Family of Happenstance
by Winged Element
Summary: Some orphans have happy endings, getting adopted or finding their family. Having a demon slaying half devil for a father tends to throw a tiny monkey wrench in the process. AU Father!Dante, Son!Nero. Rated because hunters don't exactly have clean mouths.
1. Revelations

A/N: I know you guys were all waiting impatiently for it! Probably not... seems like everyone's more excited about the neko!Nero story... but don't worry, I'm starting that one after I get this posted, personally I'm so excited to get into this, it'll be so kawaii!

Disclaimer: Is Nero Dante's kid? No. Ergo I don't own Devil May Cry.

Revelations

Nero remembered very little of his mother. What few memories he had were faint and foggy; there was one memory though that burned into his mind. One memory that he treasured; he couldn't have been more than three or so at the time and had managed to catch a harmless garder snake out in the yard and took it to show his mom, she had shrieked when she turned around and then put a hand to heart and said

"Jeez Nero, don't scare me like that!" She ruffled his hair, he remembered how important it had been to show her that snake, he'd caught it! She smiled and the small white haired boy felt intense pride in his catch.

"Snake momma! I catch!" She'd laughed and then the rest of the memory was blurry and unintelligible but the young boy often found himself thinking back on that moment. Sometimes with fondness, sometimes with wondering. Wondering of course what had happened to his mother, the orphanage said that she died in a tragic accident but hardly revealed anything, but no, that was one of the minor questions he had. What the preteen really wanted to know was why he was different, correction, how he was different. His mother had acted as though her son catching and killing a small animal was no big deal, maybe even a good thing. Why? What kind of mother did that?

The white haired boy sighed and rolled easily from the tree branch he was lounging in and fell at least fifteen feet before landing solidly on his feet. He knew he was different, everything from his snowy white hair to the rather unnatural strength he possessed, it was something the other boys at the orphanage didn't hesitate to point out. As a result Nero had become a bit of a lone wolf, often found listening to music on his own or wandering in the thin strip of woods behind the building. Sometimes he would do as he had in his memories and catch a small rabbit or snake or such, disgusted with himself and the sadistic side of his nature. He didn't want to hurt anyone, he always regretted killing the defenseless thing the moment it was over.

Blue eyes raked over the corpse at the base of the tree and the boy looked at his hands; one wrapped in bandages, the other free and dirtied with flecks of tree bark. Nero's right hand had started changing a little and in a way that was beginning to scare the young boy, originally he'd had a large scar-like birthmark that ran from the back of his hand to his elbow, but then his entire arm had begun to turn a sick looking grey, the flesh beginning to feel strange, bumpy.

"Nero!" The preteen nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice behind him. One of his few... well the white haired boy didn't exactly call him a friend but close enough, the other boy caught up, panting lightly.

"Ms. Kathy is looking for you, she says she has good news." Jamie grinned, showing off the gap in his teeth. Jamie was a shy boy that always tried to melt away in the background, key on the try, the boy was a solid head taller than the other kids his age and thin as a rake. Nero simply raised a brow and followed back toward the building, ignoring the taller boy's questions, Jamie just liked to ask them, it didn't matter if anyone answered him or not.

The orphanage was small and many would describe it and the elderly women who ran it as homey, Nero knew he had it better than many orphans but that didn't mean he was going to act all chummy with the people there. Jamie couldn't help but grin when he saw the red bricks, strangled with ivy and lichen, the gardens around the building bright and cheerful, it was almost lunch time and he wondered what they were eating today. Once inside, the taller boy bid Nero good luck and departed, probably headed to the cafeteria to help with the food. The preteen sighed once before opening the office doors and heading inside.

"Nero, glad Jamie found you." Ms. Kathy greeted him. Ms. Kathy was one of the younger managers, in her mid-fifties and a kind cherub woman.

"Was just out for a walk." the white haired boy muttered.

"There's nothing wrong with that." the woman chuckled, her green eyes crinkling when she smiled.

"So..." Nero shuffled uncomfortably "What did you want to tell me?"

"Nero." Ms. Kathy's countenance changed instantly, becoming stern and serious. "We always try to track down the family of the children here, being with family is important." The boy nodded, unsure of where the manager was going. "We finally managed to track down your father."

"What?" The words didn't register at first.

"Your father, you get to leave Nero." Ms. Kathy spoke slower, thinking that the preteen hadn't understood.

"Wait wait wait..." the white haired boy shook his hands in front of himself "Why are you sending me to him?"

"He's a living relative, it's required of us to give children to their families if they have them."

"He's never come looking for me, why do you think he wants me?!"

"Nero..." the woman sighed, some of her graying red hair shaking loose from its bun. "Just go pack your things."

"But..."

"Go."

-Family of Happenstance-

Dante wanted to collapse, today had been exhausting, it'd been one mission after another after another, he was working hard at trying to pay his debt off to Lady so the woman would stop pestering him and then maybe he could finally get his hands on that new guitar he'd always wanted because there was NO WAY he was going to be able to save up that much money without his leechy friend (if he wanted to call her that) finding it and taking it. Now Trish on the other hand, he didn't owe anything but she'd just take his money for kicks.

"Damn women..." he muttered, turning the corner to his shop.

There was a long awkward pause as the famed devil hunter just stared at the grouchy looking kid sitting on his doorstep and the kid glared murder back at him. Finally the kid snorted and rolled his eyes, shaking his hood covered head.

"What do you need kid? I don't have the money to buy cookies." the boy said nothing and simply pointedly held a letter in the half devil's direction. Raising an eyebrow the white haired man accepted the letter, opening it and scanning the contents... And then he read it again. And again. Just to be sure.

Nero wanted to laugh at the man's expression, he kept comically looking between Nero and the letter like the contents would change when he looked back.

"You're... you're my son?"

A/N: Yay! First chapter! I'm so excited :3 Sorry if you guys thought this would be the neko one, I swear, it'll be here soon!


	2. Disbelief

A/N: Oh goodness, so I'm discovering the difficulties of doing more than one story at once here… I really want to update them both tonight but I don't know if I can muster up the energy to do so, I'll try but this one DEFINITELY deserves to be updated first. I don't know if it was in this story or my other one that I mentioned this but I'm too lazy to go look so I'll mention it again. If you've noticed that I post cover photos to each of my stories depending on what they're about, if anyone with more artistic talent than I would like to draw a cover photo to _any _of them that would be awesome! I would… I don't know, write you a one-shot or let you pick what I do next or something. Now that I'm done shamelessly begging for pictures, guest reviews!

Greyfaerie: Actually you gave me great ideas on where to take this in the long run! Thank you so much! Mwahahaha! I know what's going to happen now! (Most of the time I write blind, I usually know as much as the reader when I'm writing). Thanks so much for the review!

MYV382: Yes, it's finally here! I'm glad to have started it, even if it's going to be competing with my Neko!Nero story. Thanks so much for the review!

Dream reaper: Yeah, but! There is a method to my madness! (Not to mention it's just fun to have Nero dumped on Dante with no warning…). Sorry it took so long but here it is at last! New chapter! Thanks for the review!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN IT! YA HEAR ME?!

Disbelief

"That's what the letter says isn't it?" Nero said, he couldn't believe that this man was his father just as much as this man couldn't believe Nero was his son. Who walked around dressed in red leather and carried swords the size of themselves? The orphanage had sent him off to a lunatic… At least he found out where he got his unusual hair coloring from.

"But…" the man looked to the letter again, still expecting the contents to be different when he looked down at it.

"Look," Nero jumped down off his suitcase, pushing his hood back so he could glare properly at the man in front of him. "it's no lie or some other bullshit, now are you going to let me in or are we going to keep standing out here? I'm hungry."

Dante blinked flabbergasted at the miniature version of himself that stood before him. The preteen had the same platinum hair and blue eyes (though those orbs were a few shades darker) and even stood in the same defiant manner that the half devil himself was known to take on occasion. Without another word the demon slayer numbly opened the door and grabbed the boy's suitcase. Nero didn't know what to say when he was let into the shop; the walls were covered in weapons and skulls from strange and horrific looking creatures. It was incredible to say the least, now whether that was a good thing or a bad thing still remained to be seen.

"This is where you live?" he said quietly.

"Yeah." Dante scratched the back of his neck, this kid's voice held a note of… awe? It was a little embarrassing… he was directly behind the preteen now though and the boy's scent flooded his nose confirming the words of the letter, this kid was definitely his. If the slayer concentrated, he could feel a slight demonic aura pulsing off the preteen as well, how much of his demon side had been given to the kid? And how would it affect him?

"Uh, it said in the letter your name's Nero?"

"Yeah, what's yours?" Nero had plopped himself down on the beat up looking couch, not knowing what else to do with himself. Dante wasn't sure either so he set the kid's stuff down and sat across from the boy on the coffee table.

"Dante, what was your mother's name?" the kid blinked at him, slightly stunned.

"You don't know?"

"Kid…" the newly realized father sighed "I will admit, I have been with a lot of women, I don't know which one might have been you mother?"

"Her name was Jazzlyn, I don't remember her very well, and she died when I was little." Despite saying that he didn't remember her well, the kid still looked sad when speaking about her and Dante wracked his brain, trying to remember who this woman was… and then he remembered.

He remembered trying to woo her in a bar, joking about her name and how beautiful her voice must sound. She had laughed and turned those pretty, pretty green eyes at him. It had been a short tryst, no more than a couple weeks, but by god had it been passionate…

"Old man!" the white haired man snapped out of his reverie and gave the kid a half hearted glare.

"I am not old."

"Your white hair suggests otherwise." The boy smirked, my son… already, he couldn't help but like the kid, though they'd only been acquainted for a few minutes. Nero had spunk and a quick wit to match it.

"You have white hair too kid." He grinned and ruffled it, standing and heading toward the kitchen.

"I am not a kid!" the boy's hand's immediately went to his hair to fix it, he then followed the slayer. "Where are you going?"

"You said you were hungry right?"

"Yeah…"

"You like cold pizza? I'd heat it up but the microwaves busted." Damn Lady, the man cursed in his head, if she hadn't decided that she needed to shoot him in his kitchen then the appliance would still be in working condition.

"Yeah, I like it as long as there's no mushrooms on it."

"Just pepperoni on this one." He pulled the box out of the fridge and opened it toward Nero and then took a slice for himself, taking the remaining pieces out with them to the desk. As they ate Dante carefully reread each word in the letter, strangely enough, he wasn't opposed to the boy staying with him. In fact, upon discovering the boy was of his blood, the half devil's more demonic instincts had laid claim on Nero, the kid was his and he was going to protect his offspring.

At the same time, something just struck him as off about all of this, the letter contained no way of contacting the orphanage, or even what the name of the orphanage was, it was simply signed Ms. Kate and Dante couldn't help but doubt that would get him anywhere. He glanced up when Nero snuck forward for another slice of pizza, he shrugged and went to grab another himself and… grasped at empty air. He peeked in over the top edge of the box and realized it was empty; he looked back to the kid who was polishing off the slice he'd just nabbed.

"Jeez kid, how many pieces have you had?" Nero swallowed and looked to the ceiling as he mentally added.

"Four? No, five? I think it was five." Dante just blinked at the preteen for a moment before breaking into laughter, if there'd been any doubt that Nero was his before, it was definitely gone now.

"What?" the boy glared at his new father

"Nothing, you still hungry?" the half devil asked with a grin. Nero blushed before nodding slightly. "C'mon, I know a good diner just down the street." He stood and the boy followed him out the door. It may have been dumped rather abruptly on him, but Dante knew he would do everything in his power for his child.

A/N: I know, I know, boring filler chapter, I'm sorry, but I felt like it wasn't half bad for filler, neh? Well, either way, it's necessary.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	3. Discoveries

A/N: Yes, I am finally back with another chapter of Family of Happenstance! I'm back at school so things should start becoming more regular now, especially after I get a fixed work schedule *rolls eyes* darn family business... Anyway, I'm excited as always to be working on this so I'll get started!

Disclaimer - The art of not claiming anything

Discoveries

Several things came to Dante's attention at Freddie's diner, one was that Nero could eat, seriously, the kid could pack away a _ton_ a of food. Second, was the preteen's arms, one was swathed in bandages that had clearly seen better days, the boy didn't use that one often, he stuck mostly to his left hand, yet still managed to eat an entire plate of food in the time it took the half devil to finish a drink.

"What'd you do to your arm kid?" he finally asked after staring at it curiously for a few minutes.

"That's none of your business." the boy growled, glaring at him furiously. Dante just snorted.

"That isn't gonna fly here buddy, whether you like it or not, we're stuck with each other so if you're hurt or something, I need to know." Nero looked away.

"I... I don't wanna talk about it..." with that, the kid dug back into the food and effectively closed the discussion. The older man let it drop but was definitely going to bring it up later, the rest of their time at the diner was quiet, the two comfortable simply listening to those around them.

On their way home the slayer paused, there was a demon spawning really close by, he looked over to his son, the boy had his brows crinkled and was rubbing at that bandaged arm.

"Something wrong?" he asked, Nero looked up at him and then Dante abruptly pulled him backward as a Hell Pride swung its scythe at them. Several well placed shots later and the thing was dead but the damage had been done. Nero stood there looking shocked and horrified by what he'd just encountered. The half devil herded the boy home and promptly noticed a small spot of red near the top of the bandaged on the preteen's arm.

"You're hurt." he stated, reaching for the boy

"No! Don't touch it!" the kid yelped, he jumped back from his father, turning the right side of his body away.

"Kid, I need to clean it out, it'll get infected..."

"No! What the hell was that? Why did it attack us?" Dante sighed and sat down, patting the couch next to him, after a moment of glaring, the boy joined him.

"That... was a demon. It came from the underworld or netherworld or hell, whatever you want to call it." the slayer gestured to the walls around them "If you can't really tell, this isn't an ordinary sort of place, I'm a demon slayer. I get hired to kill those things."

"So that's what all the weapons are for?"

"Yup, well, some of them I don't use often but... heh, I've kind of become a collector of some strange weapons." The red devil rubbed the back of his neck as his son looked around with a new sense of wonder. "Now," Nero turned back to him "I've shared my secret, how about you share yours and I can clean up that cut too." The boy hesitated, not wanting to allow his arm to be seen. This man had just told him he killed demons, what if he determined that Nero's arm made him a demon too? Would he kill him?

"I...I..."

"It's alright kid, I promise I won't freak out." The boy turned away from him but didn't stop him from grabbing that bandaged arm. The half devil slowly started to unwrap it and stared blatantly at the ribbed, blue-grey skin that was slowly revealed. Nero winced when the slayer brushed his elbow, the joint kept throbbing lately and was slightly swollen though he knew he hadn't hit it on anything.

"Kid, do you know what this is...?" he was whispering now, trying not to spook the boy who was still looking at his own arm in disgust. His fingers brushed over the large scar-like mark on his forearm and both of them started when the mark gave a brief, tiny glow.

"It's wrong." his son mumbled, avoiding Dante's gaze.

"No." Nero looked up at the white haired man in surprise. "It's not wrong. I should've said this when I said I'm a slayer, but..." Dante sighed, glancing away from the kid for a moment, he never thought admitting to his own nature would be so hard "I'm a half devil, my mother was human but my father was a devil." The preteen stared at him in shock

"So I'm... I'm a monster?" The boy was quivering now.

"No!" The half devil grabbed the boy's shoulders, turning Nero's face to his own "Never think that, you are not a monster, just because you have demon blood that does not mean that you are any less a person than anyone else. Your actions decide what you are, not your blood." The preteen looked at him and then down to his arm.

"Why do I have this though, it just keeps getting worse, what if it doesn't stop?"

"It'll be okay, we'll worry about that if it does get really bad alright." Nero looked at him, worry in his eyes.

"You don't have any demon parts." the kid mumbled, the boy's bluish fingers twitching

"Kid, you have no idea..." Dante's eyes took on a slight crimson sheen and he let his demonic aura flare. In response, Nero's arm took on a more prominent glow and he winced.

"Why is it glowing?" the boy's question was quiet

"I'm not sure, does it hurt?" The slayer didn't want his son to be in pain, even if his demonic instincts thought it was weak to show pain or at least let it affect you.

"Sometimes... It keeps tingling, it kinda rings in the back of my head."

"You're sensing my demonic aura. Seems like it comes from here?" he tapped the base of his skull. Nero simply nodded, wide eyed.

"So is this why I heal quickly too?" Being the young boy he was, the shock of the discovery was wearing off quickly. Actually, finding out he was part demon helped to explain a lot of things and now, naturally, he was curious.

"Haha, yes, it's a nifty trick isn't it?" Dante knew he was going to be mobbed with questions and settled in for the long haul.

A/N: So! Nero has discovered that he is part demon and Dante now knows that Nero has in fact inherited some of his demonic powers. Yay all around! Now! Onto the Neko!Nero story!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	4. First Impressions

A/N: Hellos to all! I've got another chapter comin' right up! The wifi in this classroom "isn't working" but it is on my iPad... so... apparently my iPad's just a beast or something XD Onward to the chapter!

Disclaimer: Wha...? I could try and claim it to begin with?

First Impressions

"How'd you get...that one?" Nero question about the weapon was interrupted by a yawn.

"I'll tell you tomorrow kid." Dante ruffled his son's hair and the boy gave him a sleepy glare. "C'mon," he helped the boy to his feet and shepherded him up the stairs, the spare room was a little musty but at least it was functional. The half devil swore he'd get that fixed...tomorrow. It was too late tonight and he had some other things to go over. As soon as his head hit the pillow, Nero was out like a light and Dante chuckled, smoothing the boy's hair and pulling the covers around him. The demonic arm pulsed lightly, the glow more evident in the dark room, the preteen pulled it in close to his body and sighed.

"Sleep well." the white haired man whispered, and then closed the door. Once back down in the office he plopped onto his chair and heaved a massive sigh. So much had changed in the matter of a day, he'd had a kid, his own child, dumped on his doorstep. If someone had told him even yesterday that he was a father he would've laughed but now... it'd only been a day and Dante already thought of the boy as his own.

He picked up the letter once again, looking at the check that had been stapled to it, it was signed by this same "Ms. Kate" at least he couldn't make out the first name well enough to say what the woman's actual name was. The letter explained that he would receive money for a little while for the sudden inconvenience. Well, at the very least, it would get him started, that kid was gonna be expensive, the shop owner knew it just from how much he ate alone. He sighed again and ran a hand through his snowdrift of hair.

"I wonder..." Dante looked at his own hands, knowing full well how hard it was to be part demon. He wondered if the boy had some of the same needs to hunt and kill as he himself had; it wasn't a pretty thing but sometimes the half devil would go off, Trigger, and burn off some energy, hunt around a little bit and then come home, ignoring Lady's constant pestering of where he was. Trish understood, but then again, she was a full devil and had some of the same desires. Would they understand Nero?

"Trish will probably try to mother him..." he grinned, she tried to mother Dante too sometimes, and then she got sick of his attitude, beat him silly and would disappear again. Lady... he wasn't sure what that loan shark would do, the boy was much more obvious a part devil and as the young kid he was, probably didn't have as much control over his instincts...

Sighing for what felt like the millionth time, he picked up the letter, it explained that their end of the paperwork was done and what he needed to do to have legal custody over the boy, the half devil looked at the clock. The only businesses that were open now were the bars and clubs and well, his own, but Devil May Cry never really "wasn't" open, it's not like he could hold demons to regular hours or anything. All of this would have to be dealt with in the morning...

-Family of Happenstance-

The first thing that Nero saw when he woke up was his uncovered right arm, the light within it pulsed lightly, seeming stronger than it did yesterday. Yesterday... he'd arrived at the shop called Devil May Cry and met his father, discovered he was part demon, heard fantastical stories about living weapons and duels to the death, and eaten the best darn strawberry sundae he'd ever had. It had probably been one of the most exhausting days he'd ever had in his life but... one of the most interesting too. The preteen couldn't remember the last day he hadn't been bored, and now... now he was supposed to live with this crazy demon hunting guy who also happened to be his father. The kid yawned and stretched and then glanced back at his arm, he still didn't like the thing, it still scared him, but at least he knew what it was now.

His stomach let out a loud growl and Nero rolled out of bed, intending to get something to eat.

"Dante!" he heard a woman's voice yell from the doorway as he walked down the stairs.

"Yeah, yeah, what'dya want?" the boy's father's voice rang from the kitchen. Nero peeked out into the main office area and saw a woman dressed in white, wearing sunglasses and carrying a very, very large bazooka on her back.

"I came to collect my payment from the job you took yesterday." she said, Dante walked out of the kitchen grumbling something about "leeches", then he turned to the stairs.

"You can come downstairs kid, I promise, Lady's not as strong as she looks." the half devil could feel the glare that the huntress directed at him through the sunglasses. The preteen shyly came down the stairs, eyeing Lady warily. Said huntress stared blatantly and looked from Dante to Nero and back again.

"Hi." the partial devil said, still tired and had less snark because of it.

"Dante! This! This!" the brunette spluttered, the half devil chuckled.

"Lady, I'd like to introduce you to Nero, my son. Nero, this is Lady, aka the woman who won't let me get out of debt."

"You... you have a kid?! Since when?!"

"Well Nero's eleven so for eleven years? How long have I known? Since yesterday." there was a moment of silence before Lady erupted into boisterous laughter. Nero simply stared at her, what was wrong with her?

"Hahahaha! I've always wondered how many kids you must have somewhere in the world!" Dante glared at her.

"Lady... I am not that bad."

"Dante." she looked at him seriously "You are the biggest man whore I know." at that comment, Nero couldn't help but snicker. His father looked at him.

"What are you laughing about punk?"

"Nothing! Nothing!" he squeaked, darting off into the kitchen to, hopefully, find something to eat. Lady looked after him and then turned back to Dante.

"He has your blood doesn't he?" she said softly

"Yeah, but it's not as potent." the half devil responded "You saw his arm?"

"A little, did he say if it's always been like that?"

"No, he said it's getting worse though..."

"Will it stop? What will you do if..." the huntress was cut off by Nero shouting

"Old man! Where's the food?" Dante sighed and his old friend gave him a small smile and patted his shoulder.

"I've got a job to do today but I'll send Trish over in a couple hours, I think she still owes you from her last shopping spree."

"Thanks Lady." she watched as the slayer in red wandered into the kitchen "I don't know where it is, I probably need to go shopping." the huntress couldn't help but smile when she heard the kid whining.

"Seriously? But I'm hungry..."

A/N: More cutesy fluffy stuff. Now, I'm not the person to ask for reviews, I try to avoid that, and I don't know if people were just tired and what not because it was a monday but seriously? I got next to no feedback on the last chapter! It makes me think that you guys hated it or something... if you hate it, don't hesitate to tell me what could be better! Anyway thanks Sirena Lorely and Saraneko for being great constants

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	5. Lessons

A/N: Hello people, I'm sorry for the delay but actually, I've been grounded, still am but my mother doesn't know how I have internet on my computer ergo she can't take it away. I've got a lot to rant about but I'll put it at the end of the chapter so if you have no desire to hear my problems, just skip that part, kay?

Disclaimer: DMC is older than my interest in it, so unless I'm time traveling, then I can't possibly own it.

Lessons

"…Alright, thanks, yeah it's no problem…nah, just come by tomorrow. …Seriously Trish, I've got this. …Yeah…uh-huh… right, bye." Dante hung up the phone and looked at Nero, the boy simply arched a small eyebrow.

"That was Trish; she's busy so she won't be coming by."

"So? What're we gonna do instead? I'm bored." With the last sentence the preteen flopped back on the couch. The half devil couldn't help but agree with his son, it had been a rather boring morning; they had gone shopping and picked up everything they could find that Nero would need to be living in the shop with the demon slayer.

"I'm not sure, what do you want to do?" he asked the kid, Nero simply shrugged in response.

"I dunno."

"C'mon," Dante grabbed the limp boy to his feet.

"Hey!" in response the small partial devil began squirming, trying to get back on the ground.

"Let's get out of here, being cooped up is starting to make me antsy." He pulled on his signature red coat and on a second thought, strapped Ebony and Ivory to their holsters, never know when you'd need them.

"Where are we going?" the kid looked excited now, pulling on his own coat and to Dante's disappointment, double checked the bandages on his right arm. He tried to convince the kid to leave it unwrapped; there was no shame in his heritage, despite the fact that most people wouldn't believe it.

"There's a nice park a few blocks from here, if nothing else we can take a walk."

"Better than sitting around here." The preteen said, following his father out the door.

The park wasn't that far of a walk so it didn't take the duo long to get there; the walk itself started off calm and quiet, father and son simply enjoying the nice afternoon but as luck would have it a few minor demons spawned not far from the trail. Nero saw his arm glow lightly through the layer of bandages and felt the tingle in the back of his mind, he looked to the half devil who simply tilted his head back and groaned.

"Is there ever a day you don't get attacked?" the kid smirked as his father pulled out his handguns.

"It is a rare and wonderful occasion, cases like this though, were they spawn away from people, I usually just let them go, they'll run out of demonic energy and slip back into the underworld shortly. One sec." Dante grinned at the boy and dashed off, Nero was tempted to follow but then again… he had no idea what kind of monsters his father was facing and didn't know how to face them, he'd probably be more of a hindrance than help.

He started kicking a small pebble around while he waited; listening to the roar of the gunfire and the demon's dying screams. It was so exciting, living in a shop where hauling around big ass guns and swords was the norm, and he'd only been there a day! The preteen wondered what kind of crazy adventures awaited him in the future. School, I suppose, the boy thought to himself, that had been one of their errands that morning and Nero was due to get back in the classroom next week. He sighed, school was always so boring… the white haired boy perked up when he heard a rustle in the bushes, that tingle ran through the back of his mind and he tensed.

There was a low growl and a large, flaming dog like creature stepped out of the bushes. Nero's eyes widened when the thing growled at him again, its skull-like jaws snapping with an audible 'click.' More growls echoed around him and several more of the demons appeared. The preteen did the only thing he could think of, he backed away and then began booking it away from there, the snarling monsters in pursuit.

-Family of Happenstance-

Dante couldn't help but grin as he sliced down the last of the low-level demons before him, they weren't difficult to take out but it never ceased to give his addicted body a shot of adrenalin. He holstered his guns with a smirk, too easy.

"DANTE!" The half devil's blood ran cold when the cry reached his ears and before he knew it, he'd already taken off to the source of the sound. No harm would come to his son if he had anything to say about it. Ebony and Ivory were out and already singing when he found Nero. The boy had scrambled up into a tree to get away from… from… the slayer had no idea what kind of demons these were and that surprised him as they weren't very powerful. Some of the upper classed ranks he'd never seen before but the half devil assumed that he'd run into nearly all of the low class scum. The demons vaguely resembled flaming dogs…that could fire their own skulls at you. That was obnoxious.

The slayer growled, his eyes taking on a crimson sheen, how dare they try to touch his son, his blood.

"_Get away from him._" His voice was low, a few lone sparks of red electricity dancing over his skin, he was that close to losing it and demolishing the scum that dared to touch his kin.

-Family of Happenstance-

The lone basilisk watched as its brethren was destroyed by the man in red, the boy sat in the tree, looking scared, there was no chance at taking him now though. It was time to retreat; time to take what information had been gained back to its master.

A/N: Okay so there's the chapter, now I'm going to rant for a little bit. As I mentioned in the top A/N, I'm grounded. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but I'm eighteen and a senior in high school. The 'reason' I'm grounded, apparently, is that I don't give back enough to my family and don't talk with them enough. Recently, I've been having a lot of trouble with my relationship with my mother (our relationship has always been shaky at best) now though, it's just getting really bad and it's starting to butt in on other parts of my life like my relationship with my dad and with my boyfriend (who has been incredibly supportive in my tough times right now). I understand that my parents have good reasoning for what they do and some of it is reasonable but I really don't think they have the right to ask for some of the things they do from me. They seem to want to know where I am of every second of the day, I can't help but ask myself if they're gonna want to do that when I go to college in the fall, plus, legally, I could just walk out of the house, so do they even have the right to ground me? I don't know, this is just getting to me now, so if any of you could leave a bite of advice mixed in with your review, that would be amazing. Oh! I have a bridge competition tomorrow, we leave tonight, wish me luck!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	6. Alastor

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm kinda back, finally getting some of my freedom back, I'm allowed my iPad during school hours as of now so I'll be emailing this note to myself in order to post it after school from my personal computer. After this chapter of this I'll finally be equal between my two fics and will be able to do them simultaneously :D Now! Onward to the chapter (I almost feel the need to do a recap... that's bad...)

Disclaimer: I don't wanna.

Alastor

The next few days with the half devil and his son were quiet, both were still a little shaken from the incident in the park, Dante because he didn't think they'd go after his son and Nero because he'd been attacked. Finally after another day of few words Dante shot to his feet, grabbed Nero by the back of his collar and hauled him over to the closet that the boy had never seen his father open. When the contents of it was revealed he could see why, the room was full of shelves and shelves of weapons and ammunition and the type of gear used to clean said weapons. The young partial devils eyes widened at the sight, he was promptly plunked down on his feet as the slayer began rooting around, obviously on the hunt for something.  
"What're you looking for?" he asked his father, curious but wary of all the dangerous objects that were rather precariously balanced on the shelves around them. Dante didn't answer him but simply continued to sift through the piles.  
"Aha!" the man finally claimed, holding up a rather small looking pistol "I knew Lady had left this here, she seemed to think that my place is the best place to store weapons that she doesn't use often..."  
"What?" the half devil ignored him and mumbled  
"Now where the hell is the ammo... dammit I think it's in with all the other mixed ones..." Dante glanced at the shelves before grinning slightly and shoving the gun into Nero's small hands.  
"Why are you giving this to me?!" the boy looked between the gun and his father as the older man stood on a lower shelf to reach the top one. Even with the boost, he still had to stretch. There was a flash of a spark from the shelf and Dante jumped back to the ground with a large sword in his hand, blue sparks flying over the shining metal. The half devil put his forehead to the blade and spoke.  
"Alastor, I'm in need of your abilities, but not for myself, I want to teach my son how to wield a sword. He is young and I would only leave this to one that I trust and has worked with me faithfully." Nero thought that the man had lost it but he had the shock of his life when the blade spoke back, the voice strong and low, reminding the boy of a rumbling dragon.  
"It would be an honor to help teach the young of one so strong." The preteen didn't have time to recover from the shock of hearing a sword talk before the weapon was shifting, blue sparks dancing off the blade as it shrunk and warped until it was just the right size for the young partial devil.  
"Here." Dante offered the hilt to Nero who hesitantly took it. "This is Alastor, he's a great sword, and if you're gonna live comfortable under this roof, that's something you better learn how to wield."  
"Me?" the boy squeaked, looking at the weapons in his hands.  
"Yeah, you saw how those demons won't hesitate to come after you. You need to know how to defend yourself."  
"But... but..."  
"C'mon," the half devil ushered his son out of the house and into the alleyway, the boy continued to squirm and look back at his father with wide, rather startled eyes. Once in the alleyway Dante plucked a few empty beer cans out of the dumpster adjacent to the building.

"Here." He set them up at about shoulder level for the eleven year old, who just watched the half devil with that wide eyed expression.

"You want me to… shoot them?" he asked, glancing between the slayer and the cans.

"Of course." Nero awkwardly deposited Alastor on the ground and then stared blankly at the gun in his hands. Dante smiled and walked the boy's hands through the motions of unlocking the safety on the gun and aiming it. At one point he took out Ivory to demonstrate, though in a much, much slower motion than he normally did and the stance he took was the kind of one that he himself had learned from, all those years ago, before he could practically shoot in his sleep.

"Aim for that center one." The half devil gestured toward the cans. The preteen aimed carefully. "Now breathe." The boy took a deep breath… and shot.

The bullet pinged off the center can, it didn't hit it full on but it had nicked it, all the same, it caused a goofy grin to light up the shop owner's face. Especially when Nero turned to face him with an awed expression.

"I hit it!"

"I know!" Dante grinned back at his son. "Now you gotta try again, prove it wasn't a fluke." The partial devil took aim and fired again. Ping! Went the can a couple inches to the left. The boy's face was pensive when he lined up again, determined to hit that center can. This shot went between the center and right cans and Nero glared at the empty drink, Dante almost wanted to laugh at the expression on his son's face. The boy was doing just fine, in fact better than fine. His aim was great, he just needed practice.

"Don't let the recoil through you off."

"I'm not." Was the only snappish reply he received but the next shot went right through the can, and the grin was back on the kid's face.

After Nero became frustrated, the cans were mutilated, and the ammo limited; Dante told him to put down the gun. He received a tired glare but the boy did as he was told.

"Now pick up Alastor, he's probably already irritated with you for just leaving him on the dirty, wet ground."

"But it's just a sword…" the partial devil hefted the smaller blade and let out a startled yelp as the blue sparks shocked up his arm.

"He didn't like that…" the half devil snickered; he knew Alastor wasn't going to hurt the kid but in that moment, his instincts had flared, ever so slightly.

"Alastor isn't just any sword, he's a devil arm. Devil arms are devils that are defeated in combat and take the form of a weapon to serve their champion. So what you're holding now is a rather powerful devil, not just a sword. Now, we're going to start with some basic stances…"

A/N: I know, I know, I've been gone for a long while, trust me, I've been chomping at the bit to get back. I used my writing as leverage to get myself to finish my AP Calc class online (yay! No more high school math!). And now I can finally return to you guys!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	7. School and Other Horrors

A/N: Hello everyone! I know, I know, most of you probably want another chapter of Neko! I mean Nero! But I have to keep things fair between the two fics so that means this one will be updated today. I was going to toss up my oneshot crossover over the weekend but holy crap did I have an insane weekend! I went right from work on Friday to the theater to see Iron Man 3 (which was amazing!) Saturday consisted of State Festival for my orchestra (First Division! Yeah!) And Sunday I went to church with my boyfriend, that was different, I'd never been to a catholic church before but I enjoyed it, it was something new :) Anywho! Onto the chapter!

Disclaimer: *waves hand in front of your face* I do not own Devil May Cry… (or Star Wars ;p)

School and Other Horrors

Dante smiled at the peaceful face of his son as he closed the door gently. The boy was completely wiped from the hard training the half devil had put him through but the older man couldn't help but be proud. His son was picking up swordsmanship even faster than he had gunmanship, though the boy absolutely refused to wield the blade in his right hand. When he'd asked the preteen about it the kid had said.

"It feels weird."

"That's because you're left-handed kid, it's gonna feel weird until you start using it. You don't have any trouble moving that arm do you?" Nero didn't answer his father's question at first.

"Can you move your arm properly?" Dante's eyes were steely now, he needed to know if Nero was having difficulty with his demon blood and he needed to know right away.

"Most of the time, it's not that big of a deal." The younger huffed, glaring off to the side. This led to a very long discussion between the two; Dante discovered that the partial devil sometimes felt like his arm was seizing up but this had only started happening recently, the shop owner guessed that Nero's body was still adapting to the fluxes in demonic power, the kid had said that it only usually happened when he became overly emotional.

After that, Nero had stuck to just his left hand when it came to wielding Alastor, and Dante had to say, his son was pretty damn good at his for an eleven year old. He smiled again and headed down the stairs. The boy started school tomorrow so the half devil packed him a lunch and put it on his desk so it wouldn't be forgotten before heading to bed himself. Raising a child was difficult and exhausting work but he could easily say that it was just as rewarding as devil slaying, maybe even more so because his demonic instincts were calmer when his kin was safe and protected. He had noticed that he'd been less antsy lately, hadn't felt the need to run off to Love Planet or a bar or a club. Perhaps that was because he finally had something that he hadn't realized that he'd wanted: offspring or perhaps it was just because everyday was its own adventure with the kid around, he was never bored enough to want to go to those places. Dante was finally beginning to realize how much his son was changing his life.

-Family of Happenstance-

Nero groaned when the alarm next to his newly claimed bed went off, even though at the orphanage they'd had to get up early for lessons, this seemed a little ridiculous. He fumbled for the switch and rolled over, his arm was aching again, and the partial devil looked down at it before freezing.

Dante glanced up the stairs one more time before deciding that enough was enough and walking up them, so help the boy if he was still asleep as the half devil's sensitive ears had picked up the shrill beep of the alarm clock. He pushed open his son's door and paused in the doorway.

Nero sat on the bed, tears rolling steadily down his face and streaks of blood adorning his right arm.

"Nero!" the elder sat down in front of the preteen and lifted the boy's chin to look at his face. The partial devil looked away.

"What's wrong buddy? You've gotta get ready for school."

"It's getting worse…" the words were barely a breath of a whisper.

"What?"

"This! Look at it!" the younger held his arm in front of his father, the appendage glowing a little brighter as Nero's mood fluxuated. With an angry yell, the boy slammed the glowing fist into the wall, cracks webbing away from the impact point and Dante couldn't help but be impressed, the boy's arm, if nothing else, certainly held a lot of strength.

"Why's it getting worse? Why…?" the half devil flinched slightly when his son latched himself around his waist, sobbing large wet patches into his father's shirt.

"I don't know kid, can I see it?" Nero made no move to stop the shop owner when he touched the demonic limb. The skin was tender and bruised, bleeding where the boy had scratched angrily at it. There were two noticeable changes, one was the large bump that seemed to be growing off the kid's elbow, said bump was red and angry looking, but that could just be irritation from the scratching and rubbing. The second things were the claws that seemed to be developing off the ends of Nero's fingers. Beyond that, there was nothing different about his arm than there normally was, maybe, _maybe _if he looked real close, Dante would say that the boy's forearm and bicep were a slightly darker blue but that was pushing it.

"C'mon, it'll be okay." He collected the boy in his arms. "We'll figure this out, alright? But you need to get dressed and go to school first, I won't let you shoot more unless you go to your classes." There was an exceptionally loud sniff from his front and those big ocean blue eyes looked up at him.

"What if it keeps getting worse, I don't wanna turn into a demon…" Dante just smiled and wiped away one of the tears, sparkly as any jewel, and gave the boy a light squeeze.

"Nero, you're not a demon, you have a gift that only humans have." The kid looked at him. "You have tears, devils never cry." Those eyes widened and the preteen nodded.

"Now. How about some breakfast before you go?" the half devil grinned and his son's face brightened a little.

A/N: D'awww…. I like this chapter, it's very fluffy :)

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	8. New Kid

A/N: Hello everyone! Yeah… so… I'm back… again…. Can I just say that the last few weeks of my senior year of high school can be defined as pure chaos? Yeah, I was working nearly all the time and when I wasn't I was off cuddling and stuffs with my boyfriend. Now I'm out and free though! Woot! Commencement is this weekend and I wish I could invite all of you wonderful people to come see but I only get seven tickets and I don't think you guys want to watch that anyway XD Now, what you've all been waiting for! The chapter!

Guest: I'm finally back! And yes, I'm sorry I didn't send him to school earlier, I'm having fun doing so, thanks for the review!

Disclaimer: *glares*

New Kid

Nero's walk to school was short and the preteen encountered no trouble on the way, aside from some chilly fingers and ears. The school was a short and squat brick building, with hundreds of small kids his age wandering in toward the double doors. Occasionally you'd see a tall female, some of the teachers or parents, Nero assumed, towering over the kids and ushering the more reluctant into the building. He walked in and was facing the very place he needed to go, the main office, the young partial devil could feel his arm heating up in his nervousness and he frantically looked down to make sure that it wasn't shining through the layers of bandages. Once assured that his arm was hidden he pulled back the heavy door to the office and entered. The desks were a lot lower than the one that Nero was used to seeing at Devil May Cry but he was pretty sure that was because most of the people in this building were rather short, so it made sense. The secretary noticed him and nodded and held a finger up while she finished speaking with what sounded like a parent explaining why their child would be absent.

"Yes, of course. Mmhmm, yes, thank you, you too, mm'bye." She hung up the phone and looked at the white haired boy before her.

"Hi, can I help you?"

"Um… yeah, my name's Nero." The preteen said softly

"What's your last name Nero?" the secretary asked sweetly, shuffling through the paper on top of her desk. Nero had a moment of panic as his mother's last name, which he went by at the orphanage, was the only thing that came to mind.

"Oh, you wouldn't happen to be Nero Redgrave would you?" she asked, looking down and a sheet that was currently grasped in her hands."

"Yes, that's me."

"Well, lucky for you I have your paper work right here…" a loud bell interrupted the secretary and Nero winced at the sound, it was so loud…

"That was the bell for school to start; you'll just be a little late while I get a couple things around for you." He was going to have to hear that thing every day? The partial devil was pretty sure he'd become deaf by the end of the week…

"Here you are." The woman came around the desk and handed him a small stack of papers "You'll be in Mrs. Simmons class, you'll like her, I'm sure of it. If you can wait one moment, I'll take you down there." Nero nodded and sat in one of the chairs, idly swinging his legs, his arm had stopped pounding with his heart, a fact which calmed the preteen greatly. His elbow continued to throb though, he told himself that he'd ask Dante about it when he got home.

The secretary reappeared and ushered him out of the small office and down a hallway; short lockers ran along either side of them in varying colors, probably meant to be bright and cheery but it was honestly making Nero a little dizzy as he tried to keep up with the fast pace of the woman in front of him. He was accustomed to the plain and simple feel of the orphanage, while it wasn't a place he had been overly fond of, it was still familiar and a bit of a comfort to see. Even Devil May Cry, with its demonic trophies and weapons on the walls was less distracting, there were so many colorful posters and artwork decorating the walls in between the doorways where he could see classes just beginning. As distracted as he was, it was understandable that Nero nearly ran into the secretary when she stopped abruptly; he looked up at her with a confused expression on his face and she merely gave him a bemused smile.

"This is your locker; they don't lock so I don't suggest putting anything of extreme value in there." The preteen nodded and took a pencil out of his backpack then put the rest in the locker along with his coat.

"All set?" he nodded again "All right then, right down here is your classroom, and I'll leave you in Mrs. Simmons capable hands." With another smile, she turned back the way she had come. Nero just looked at the classroom door and took a deep breath, he never did like being in the spotlight… Without further hesitation he opened the door and stepped inside. Mrs. Simmons stood at the front of the classroom with desks full of curious looking students all staring at him, he blushed lightly.

"Hello." He said quietly, giving a small wave with his left hand, his right was burning hot again and the preteen prayed that it wasn't shining through, that light in it just seemed to keep getting brighter with the passing days, especially when he was angry or embarrassed.

"You must be Nero." Mrs. Simmons smiled; she looked to be in her late thirties or early forties, old enough to have experience with her own kids but young enough to be bright and full of energy.

"Yes ma'am." She blinked at the polite address but to Nero, who'd been raised getting stuck in the corner for an hour just for not saying please or thank you it was a deeply ground in habit. It was a default for him to be polite if he was put in a spotlight he didn't want.

"Well come on in Nero! There's no need to be shy, I told the class awhile ago that you'd be coming, isn't that right?" she turned to the class who nodded in unison, still watching the stranger in their classroom. The partial devil walked forward in the class, feeling all those eyes following him, Mrs. Simmons held out her hand for him to shake, her face open and warm. The boy hesitated, looking between her hand and his own bandaged one that hung at his side and offered his left instead. His new teacher paused for a moment before taking it with a grin.

"Now, would you like to tell us anything about yourself Nero? Where you come from, why you moved anything? We all did this at the beginning of the year so we could get to know each other better, if you can't think of anything, I'm sure the class has questions. Here, c'mon, sit right up here." She patted her stool and Nero clambered up onto it.

"Um… I don't really know what to say…" he rubbed at his nose, trying to will away the blush in his cheeks."

"Well then, let's ask the class, shall we?" as soon as the words were out of her mouth nearly every hand in the room shot up.

"Brent? What's your question?" the brunette looked delighted to have been called on first. Nero should have known but the first question that he was asked in his new class was.

"Why's your hair white?"

A/N: XD I feel like this is a question that haunts our favorite slayers wherever they go. So… I graduated two days ago; I have a high school diploma now, yay! But on a sadder note, I have to get my wisdom teeth pulled today… not looking forward to that. At. All. Anyway, it'll give me time to update again tomorrow.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	9. Making Friends and Enemies

A/N: Y'know, I thought I was gonna write this chapter yesterday, I was sitting down, Microsoft Word open and everything when I suddenly had the extreme drive to write yaoi… so I opened up my Neko!Nero fanfiction and pumped out a two thousand word chapter on that. That's twice as long as I usually make chapters O.o. Why did I do that? Apparently my subconscious really wanted to plug away at that story… Anyway, back to this one tonight! As a random side note, my right lower jaw stings really badly… I'm starting to get worried that there's something wrong with it…

Guest: Oh don't worry, he'll get questions on the arm, but most elementary kids have seen a bandaged arm, they're just more interested in why a kid their age had white hair right now. Thanks so much for the review!

Disclaimer: If I owned this, then this story wouldn't have to be listed as an alternate universe now would it?

Making Friends and Enemies

The preteen wanted to facepalm at the question, why had he not known that that would be the first thing they'd ask. Whenever he met newcomers at the orphanage that was always the first question out of their mouth, now though, at least he had an answer.

"I get it from my dad, his hair's white too." Nero said, this seemed to placate most of them but a few still didn't seem quite convinced.

"Janette?" Mrs. Simmons called on the next raised hand.

"How'd you hurt your arm?" It was an innocent enough question, the answer though was far more complicated. It wasn't as though he could tell his classmates that he was one quarter demon, nor did he want to, as he didn't like that fact all too much himself. What was it that Dante had told him to say last night? Nero panicked as he tried to recall the fantastic explanation that the half devil had come up with to explain away the bandages.

"Um… It's because of a minor skin disease," the partial devil proudly remembered, "it's been this way since I was really little; the doctor says it's better for me to keep it wrapped up."

"That's really interesting Nero," his new teacher said, looking genuinely interested, "do you know what it's called?" the white haired boy shook his head.

"Sorry." With the imaginary disease placating their need to know what was under the white bandages the questions turned to more normal topics.

"Where'd you come from?"

"What's it like to be in an orphanage?"

"Do you miss your friends?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"What's you favorite food?" So on and so forth, the questions raged on for a solid twenty minutes before Mrs. Simmons patted him gently on the back and sending him to an empty desk next to a boy named Mitch who'd volunteered shyly to help Nero get settled into his new surroundings.

"I'm Mitch Galvan." The boy grinned; he was friendly looking with dirty blonde hair and a smattering of freckles over his cheeks. For some reason, Nero was heavily reminded of Jamie from back at the orphanage and had a sudden and strange pang of homesickness, he hadn't been overly attached to the place but he reasoned with himself that it _was _where he grew up so it was pretty normal to miss it a little.

"Nero Redgrave." The preteen responded taking his classmate's hand with his bandaged one.

"You can move it?" the boy whispered, brown eyes wide; Nero merely raised a silver eyebrow at him.

"Of course I can, it's not immobile." The partial devil whispered back. His right arm was far from immobile but sometimes it jolted or moved when he didn't was it to or didn't move when he _did _want it to, stupid cursed limb…

"Now Mitch I know it's Nero's first day but if you could please refrain from explaining things while I'm talking, I would greatly appreciate it." Mitch and Nero both blushed at being caught and both nodded with a

"Yes, Mrs. Simmons."

The lesson passed by very slowly for Nero who was discovering that he must have been ahead of the normal fourth grade level as he already knew most of what Mrs. Simmons was teaching. This led him to feel very, very bored and he began doodling idly in his new notebook while the redheaded teacher explained long division. First he drew Alastor, or at least, the form of Alastor that he was using when training with Dante. Then the pistol he used but that was the end of familiar weapons, he started adding his own touches, what if he combined a sword and a gun? That could be really awesome. Or a sword that could shoot laser beams? That reminded him of those rare late nights with some of the other boys, all crowded in the living room around the mediocre TV, watching Star Wars and always groaning when the reception would cut out. There were always days of lightsaber battle reenactments afterwards. A sword that was so hot that it could melt through anything? What wasn't to like about that? Or what about a sword that could light on fire? So caught up in his thoughts was he that Nero didn't hear the lunch bell ring and was only brought out of his daydreams by Mitch waving a hand in front of his face.

"C'mon! It's lunch time!"

"Yes!" the preteen grinned "I'm starving!"

The two trekked to the lunchroom and picked up food from the rather bored looking lunch ladies. Nero looked down at the tray in his hands.

"Is this all we get?" his stomach growled as if in agreement

"What do you mean? You normally eat more than that?" Mitch asked with wide eyes.

"Are you kidding me? Yeah!" The partial devil was beginning to grow accustomed to having plenty of food from living at Devil May Cry and suddenly going back to going slightly hungry to appear as normal as possible was going to be tough.

"Well I'll make you a deal, if you sit by me, I'll give you what I don't eat." Nero, who would've sat by the other boy anyway, just nodded with a grin. That is, until Mitch had a very sudden and much unexpected meeting with the ground.

"Mitch you okay?" Nero bent down, carefully balancing the tray on his bandaged hand. Mitch ignored him and turned to glare at the boy a table back who was trying to look as innocent as possible. The partial devil followed his gaze and marched over to the boy and glaring at him in such a way that he couldn't ignore, the blonde looked at him.

"Can I help you?" he asked with false innocence.

"Yes, I just wanted to say, you trip him again, and you'll have me to deal with." The boy just gave him a surprised look as Nero turned around and helped his new friend to his feet.

"Are you crazy? You don't mess with Caden! He'll beat you up! He's like a black belt in taekwondo!"

"I can take him, c'mon I'll share my lunch with you, just know that you owe me." the white haired boy grinned and Mitch grinned back.

"Alright."

A/N: I really, really like the way this chapter turned out, but maybe that's just me being loopy from my missing teeth and the fact that it's two in the morning… hmm… well I'll let you decide, either way I can't wait to write more!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	10. Secret Identity

A/N: Hey guys! So I had a busy weekend, some of you who follow me regularly seem to know that I tend to take the weekend off, but for those of you who don't, I usually take the weekend off, not only from fanfiction, but from my original work as well. It gives my brain time to recharge, not to mention I tend to have full weekends… Plus everyone's having their grad parties on the weekends and I'm just like "AAAAHHHHHH!" workworkworkgradpartygradpartygradparty…. Yup, those are my weekends and when I'm not doing that I'm like, "Ian! I'm gonna use you as a pillow, kay?" Yup. Anyway, enough about my boring life, on to the chapter!

Disclaimer: Do we ever see Nero at age ten? No.

Secret Identity

Nero was at his locker, putting his stuff in his backpack when Mitch approached him, the blonde carrying his own worn looking backpack.

"Hey Mitch," the preteen was deftly managing with one hand, it was habit for him to avoid using the bandaged one, whether he could or not. People tended to have fewer suspicions if he didn't use it as often.

"Hey Nero, um… well, I just wanted to know if you wanted to come over to my house for awhile, my mom always makes a really good snack and it's kinda my fault you didn't get as much lunch…"

"Is it okay with your mom?" the white haired boy looked to his new friend in surprise; the boy must be lonely if he was inviting the new kid over to his house on the first day.

"Oh yeah, she runs a daycare during the day, she won't mind. Is it okay with your family if you come?" Nero didn't think Dante would care that much if he went over to Mitch's so he just nodded. He could take care of himself.

"Yeah."

"I walk here, that okay with you?"

"Yeah, I did too." By this time, the partial devil had finished putting his stuff in his backpack and Mitch grabbed his hand with a grin, pulling him down the hallway.

It was a short walk and the blond was practically skipping in front of him, Nero wondered why he didn't have many friends, not that he himself had many but the white haired boy was okay with being a loner. Mitch on the other hand… he seemed nice enough, maybe a little shy, maybe a little too eager to please but that didn't seem like a reason for his classmates to leave him out. Perhaps he was just an easy target, the slayer's son thought.

"It's right here!" the other boy pointed the cream colored house with a lawn full of toys and playthings meant for children years their younger. Mitch knocked on the door and walked in, calling out.

"I'm home mom! I brought a friend over!"

"I'm in the kitchen Mitch! Could you grab Betsy's blanket on your way in? I think it's in the hallway." The blond snagged a worn baby blanket and led the way, Nero still in tow. In the kitchen there was a small picnic table with a few toddlers sitting at it, snacks in front of them; hugging Mrs. Galvan's leg was a small girl.

"Oh thank you Mitch!" the woman turned from the sink where she'd been washing another apple and paused when she saw Nero before handing the blanket to the distressed girl and sending her over to the table.

"Hi!" she greeted cheerily "Mitchel, aren't you going to introduce your friend?"

"Mom, this is Nero Redgrave, he just started at our school today."

"Nero Redgrave huh? That's an interesting name."

"Redgrave is my father's last name, he's also where I got the white hair." Nero piped up.

"Are you parents divorced? I'm sorry that was rude, forgive me." Mrs. Galvan shook her head

"It's fine," Nero grinned lightly, she was nice "I never knew my mother, I was raised in an orphanage, they only recently located my father and now I'm staying with him."

"You must be used to this kind of thing then?" Mitch's mother gestured to the toddlers who were either occupied with their food or staring at the boy with the bright hair. Nero blushed and rubbed at his nose.

"Yeah, it's pretty familiar."

"Well! You boys are probably hungry and I won't keep you around the boring old lady anymore. Here," she handed them a plate piled with apple slices and a huge gob of peanut butter "go on, go play, shoo!" she ushered them out of the kitchen, both the boys thanking her and running off to Mitch's room. Once there backpacks were tossed to the floor and shoes were toed off.

"Your mom aways ike that?" Nero managed around a mouthful of apple.

"Yeah," Mitch chuckled, taking a slice for himself. "Hey uh Nero, you have peanut butter on your bandages." He pointed to the white haired boy's forearm.

"Crap!" the partial devil wiped at it, only succeeding in smearing it across the white gauze. It didn't help that he'd managed to get it right over the large glowing mark, the place that got the hottest.

"I think we have bandages, you can change it out if you want."

"Uh, nah, I'll just wait until I get home." Nero waved his hands in front of himself. "It's fine, really." He didn't need Mitch finding out about his arm, especially on the first day he met him.

"Alright, hey, do you play video games?" the partial devil inwardly sighed, that was a disaster that didn't need to happen, he needed to be more careful!

"No, I wish though, the orphanage didn't have a consol; they didn't want us all fighting over it."

"Man, I just got Mario Party 10, you gotta play!"

"Okay."

The afternoon was spent playing games, at which Nero picked up very quickly, much to Mitch's disappointment. When Mrs. Galvan told them that dinner would be soon, the preteen paled, had that much time really passed?

"I gotta go! My dad's probably gonna kill me!" Nero jumped off the bed, snagged his shoes and backpack, and bolted down the stairs.

"Thanks for having me!" he shouted to Mitch's mother before taking off out the door.

A/N: Next chapter we'll get to see Dante again! Finally! And what his reaction will be to Nero just kinda doin his own thing!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	11. Trouble

A/N: Hey everybody! I'm back for the week again! Thanks for all the kind wishes for my grad party, it went really well, only two of my high school friends plus my boyfriend showed up from my class but… well, they'll probably be the only ones I talk to in twenty years anyway. XD I spent a large part of the morning this morning writing thank you letters to people, which, let me tell you, is very, very boring. I'm also going out for Fair Queen again this year, except this year I'm trying to learn how to play Devil Went Down to Georgia and I have to improvise the _entire _devil's part… -_-; It's gonna be tough but fun! Onward!

Bgrell: That's not quite what I'm thinking; Dante can be a mother hen when he wants to be XD Thanks for the review!

Disclaimer: If I owned DMC I would have a college degree which I don't have yet.

Trouble

Nero streaked down the street, as fast as his short legs could carry him, which for being eleven, was pretty darn fast. Breathing hard, he turned down a street on the way home and collided with something, or rather someone. This someone instantly wrapped arms around the preteen who reflexively struggled before the scent of leather and gunpowder hit his nose and he felt the familiar prickling in the back of his mind that was Dante's demonic aura. His father squeezed him tightly then released him back onto his own feet and without a word, headed back toward Devil May Cry. The partial devil swallowed thickly, he was in sooo much trouble, Dante was never this quiet.

Once the heavy doors closed behind them the shop owner turned and faced his son who was fidgeting and pale as a ghost.

"Where were you after school?" one simple question, but the seriousness in his voice betrayed how worried he had been.

"I went to a classmate's house, he showed me his video games, I lost track of time…" the boy's head was hung low and Dante couldn't stop the tinge of pride that came from his demonic instincts, his son knew who was boss. He shook his head and sighed, ruffling the kid's hair.

"Just call me next time so I know where you're at kid." Nero looked up at him with wide, startled, blue eyes, he wasn't really in trouble.

"Don't think this means you can slack off learning how to wield a blade and shoot though, no kid of mine's gonna be useless if they're faced with a demon!" the preteen rolled his eyes, Dante's usual carefree attitude was back and the tense atmosphere vanished. Nero dumped his backpack next to the couch and flopped on it, his left arm going to the soiled bandaging on his right.

"How was your first day?" the slayer in red asked from his desk

"Boring, everyone there is behind where I was at back at the orphanage. I made a friend though, his name's Mitch Galvan, he's nice, other kids pick on him though."

"That's just the way a lot of kids are, did you take any heat?"

"No, why?" the partial devil looked up from his task, curiosity in his eyes.

"You're different, kids don't like different, my brother and I took a lot of crap growing up because of our hair, and I'm just warning you that it might happen to you too." Nero snorted

"I can take care of myself." He finished removing the dirty bandages and went to retrieve new ones from the desk drawer.

"What're you doing?" the slayer asked when he grabbed the fresh roll

"I'm changing them, what does it look like? The old ones were dirty; I got peanut butter on them."

"Leave it unwrapped, it can't be good for your skin to have it suffocated all the time." Nero looked at his father, startled.

"But it's…"

"No buts, there's no need to be ashamed of your heritage, you could even leave it unwrapped out in the open if you wanted to." the elder said this even though he knew that the kid wouldn't. Hesitantly, the preteen closed the desk drawer and then looked at his right arm. It still freaked him out, a lot, especially the fact that it was just getting worse and worse as the days passed. Back at the orphanage, the change had been extremely slow, weeks would pass and Nero wouldn't notice any difference. Now though… every day it glowed a little brighter… got a little worse…

"This is new…" fingers touched his sore elbow and the preteen nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What?" he looked down his forearm, trying to see what his father had pointed out.

"Here, hold out both of your arms, straight as you can." Nero did as he was told; wincing slightly as he completely straightened his right.

"Now turn your palms outward." The younger raised an eyebrow but again followed his father's instructions, and was then able to see very clearly what the slayer had been talking about. A small bump continued off the end of his forearm, but unlike the rest of his arm, it wasn't a soft, grey blue, instead it was tough and red, angry looking.

"What is it?" he whispered, eyes wide as the opposite hand traced the tender bump.

"I don't know, it's obvious you're not done growing, so I think it's safe to assume that your arm isn't done changing either." The kid looked at him with wide eyes, fear plainly evident in the blue pools.

"Hey, it hasn't gone up any farther on your arm has it?"

"Well…no…"

"Then there's nothing to worry about, and there's nothing we can do about it, you just gotta go with it."

"Do you think it'll ever stop hurting?" Dante looked slightly taken aback by his son's words.

"How much does it hurt?" Pain meds were hard for partial demons to take, the half devil knew that very well, because they got washed out so fast, but they'd help for a little while.

"It just aches…" the shop owner cracked a grin then.

"Y'know, not even demons are exempt from growing pains, c'mon, let's get some dinner." Nero nodded slowly and followed.

A/N: Poor Nero, he's so scared that his arm's getting worse, all of us lucky reader's know how far it goes though XD

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	12. Growing Pains

A/N: Hey! So guess who's back? Well, I guess that was pretty obvious… I'm kinda hyped up on caffeine cause it's 12:30 and I _need _to update chapters tonight and I also want to play FF7 (cause I kinda need to beat it so I can give it back to it's owner… hehe… oops…) So anyway yeah… past week was my brain going I DON'T CARE! It happens… plus I had orientation at WMU, I'm so nervous about starting college . If you guys want to throw me any survival tips in the reviews that'd be really, really awesome! Onto something I know I can do, writing chapters!

Lana: Hey guess what Lesley? You get to have your response right here, where the whole world can see it XD Yes, they're adorable! That's the point of this one! Adorable-ness and fluffy-ness! Don't feel like a pedo, cause if you did what would that make me? Thanks for the review!

Disclaimer: Nope, no documentation of ownership here!

Growing Pains

It had been several weeks since Nero's first day of school and the young partial devil was still learning to balance his life out. Most kids his age just had to worry about getting their homework done and playing and eating. He had to add in learning to shoot and wield a sword and hide a demonic limb, it was a lot for an eleven year old to manage but Nero'd been holding up. Pretty well at least, there was the time that a blood-goyle had followed his dad home and wrecked a window but the preteen had managed to down it for his father and the older man had been absurdly proud afterward. There was also the antsy-ness that he'd been feeling lately. That feeling that he always got in his bones and the growling in his stomach, this was the time he would normally go out in the woods at the orphanage and kill off some poor rabbit or snake, just to get that itchiness out of the back of his mind.

"AAHH!" the partial devil pulled at his hair, glaring at the can that he had missed for the fourth time in a row.

"Kid?" Dante looked at his son; it hadn't escaped his attention how tense the boy had become.

"Why can't I just hit the damn thing?" the preteen growled, his right arm letting off a bright pulse.

"You need to relax, you're so angry that you're forgetting that the recoil on this gun is a little stronger."

"I am relaxed." Nero snapped, firing at the can again, missing once more and glaring at the metal venomously. A large calloused hand came over his on the gun as the half devil gently took it from his grip. He knelt before the boy and looked at him calmly; Nero just glared at his father, feeling a niggling in the back of his throat, a tiny rumble that worked its way out of his mouth. Dante resisted the urge to chuckle at the tiny growl that his son gave him.

"No you're not, now, something's obviously bothering you so why don't you tell me what it is before I drag it out of you?" the partial devil looked away from his father, this part of himself, the part that wanted to kill something with his bare hands just to see it bleed and die was something that he'd never told anyone about, he was ashamed of it, he felt like it made him some kind of monster.

"I…" he hesitated "I'm feeling really… antsy lately…"

"I've noticed, is that all?"

"Well no… I've felt like this before…"

"When?"

"Back at the orphanage… I would normally… go out and take a little walk in the woods…" Nero was mumbling heavily now, sure his father was going to make him be more specific than what he was but the shop owner's eyes just widened in understanding. He gave a soft smile and ruffled the boy's hair; much to the younger's aggravation.

"You just have that need to chase something down don't you?" he asked and Nero looked up at him with a surprised look on his face.

"C'mon, you've seen demons in action, they're violent creatures, they hunt to kill, sometimes as a partial devil you gotta satisfy that need." Dante's explanation was simple and to the point, but it still took a load off of the preteen's shoulders, this urge was a byproduct of his demon blood, it wasn't that he was depraved or anything like that…

"So what should I do?"

"Come with me." Nero put his weapons back in the shop and followed after his father.

-Family of Happenstance-

The next day Nero woke feeling much better, he didn't feel like he wanted to rip the head off the next person who looked at him wrong. As he got ready for school he took a moment to look at his arm, the limb had continued to get worse over the past few weeks, the lump on his elbow coming to stick out several inches and the inside of his forearm was becoming darker and darker, it was almost navy blue now and harder than it was before. He absently drifted a finger over the goldish colored lines between the large scales of his arm and his fingers twitched. The preteen sighed and swiftly wrapped the appendage, he better get to school if he didn't want to be late.

The school day was ordinary, boring, at least until just afterwards, when Nero found Mitch chasing Caden who had the other boy's bag.

"Hey!" the partial devil shouted, both boys stopped and turned to look at him.

"What'd'ya want freak?" Caden shouted at him and Nero's face darkened.

"Give Mitch back his bag, I told you not to mess with him again."

"What're you gonna do about it?" the two were now facing each other, the tension thick in the air.

"I won't have to do much." Nero smirked, giving the slightly larger boy a small shove. The bully, not used to being confronted, took this as a chance to take a swing at the white haired boy, who dodged expertly and swiped the blond off his feet.

"Like I said, not much." The partial devil grabbed Mitch's bag and handed it to his friend. The two boys dashed off for the safety of Mitch's house and didn't stop till they were closed in the boy's room. Once there they collapsed into messes of pants and giggles.

"Did you see his face?" Mitch wheezed and Nero sat up, still chuckling.

"Yeah, he never saw that coming!" he agreed and offered the other boy a hand up. Mitch accepted the hand and then gave Nero a funny look.

"Dude, you ripped up your bandages." Nero froze.

A/N: Mwahahahaha! I forgot how much I love cliffhangers! Wait till tomorrow for the next chappie, kay?

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	13. More Revelations

A/N: Hey guys! I'm pretty proud of myself, I'm typing this chapter before most of you have even gotten reviews in on the previous one, but don't think that means that I don't want the reviews on that chapter too! So I'm typing this chapter on my new laptop, well new to me anyway, the laptop itself is pretty old but it runs better than my actual computer does so… and y'know what sucks? I have to work tonight, tomorrow night, and Friday night, for those of you who aren't Americans, tomorrows independence day so lots of fireworks and sparkles and such and I have to work! It sucks! I wanna be able to kiss my boyfriend under the fireworks dammit! Anywho, I'll stop ranting because you guys probably don't really care about all of that…

Disclaimer: N.O. Guess what that spells? NO!

Revelations

Nero froze, he didn't know what to do, what if Mitch found out about his arm? What should he do? In a moment of panic he clutched his arm close to his body and covered it with his left. Mitch just looked at him.

"Are you okay?" his friend asked, reaching a hand out.

"I'm fine!" the preteen snapped

"What's wrong?" Mitch looked hurt

"Nothing's wrong. I just gotta… I just gotta go." Nero stood but Mitch grabbed his wrist.

"Wait! Is this about the bandages? We have some here, you can change them out, I promise I won't call your arm gross or anything, is that what you're worried about?" the partial devil looked at his friend for a long moment, contemplating, he stared long enough that the blond began to squirm a little under his scrutiny. Finally the preteen heaved a huge sigh and sat back down.

"Okay."

"Yes!"

"But!" Nero interrupted his friend's celebration "You have to swear that you'll never tell anyone about this. Ever." The seriousness of the white haired boy's tone surprised Mitch but he nodded and dashed into the bathroom, moments later he was back with a package of white gauze.

"There are some good things about having like twelve first aid kits around the house." He grinned and handed it over to a still very serious Nero. The partial devil looked at his friend once more, still thinking about just dashing out of the house and not coming back. He could always go home, tell his dad what had happened, maybe his dad could transfer him, or maybe he could homeschool him. That could work… not. After taking another deep breath he slowly began to unwrap the bandages that held back the bright blue glow of his demonic arm.

"What is that?" Mitch's eyes were about the size of dinner plates as he took in the bright light that was starting to shine through in the dim bedroom.

"It's… my arm… I lied about it being a skin disease." Nero spoke slowly as the last layer started to come away, revealing the dark blue on the bottom and the bright glowing azure on the top.

"Why's it glowing? Why's it blue? What's this thing?" he poked the nub on the partial devil's elbow and he winced lightly, the area was still sensitive but the skin was slowly becoming harder and tougher. Mitch noticed his friend wince and snatched his hand back.

"I'm sorry!"

"It's okay, that part's just a little sensitive still."

"What is it?"

"It's… well… Mitch have you ever heard of demons?" Nero avoided his friend's curious eyes, the other boy nodded slowly.

"Yeah, they're like monsters and stuff right?"

"Pretty much. Well my dad… he uh… his dad… his dad was a demon." The white haired boy's eyes were closed, he was prepared for the rejection, the horror, but it never came. Mitch just sat there puzzling for a moment before he said.

"So your dad's dad, so your grandpa… was a demon? So your arm…"

"It's a demon arm." The partial devil said, glaring down at his cursed limb, his dad was so lucky; his dad didn't have any proof on his being that he was part demon, except for his hair, which wasn't that bad, people dyed their hair all the time. The worst it got him was a few teasing remarks from the people he worked with or an odd glance on the street.

"Can I see it?" Mitch looked excited, which startled the smaller boy, he just told his best friend that he was part devil and his friend still wanted to _be _his friend, not only that but the boy wanted to see his devil arm.

"You mean… you're not freaked out by it?" he asked, a slightly stunned expression on his face.

"No, why? I think it's kinda cool! Does it still feel like normal skin?" Nero shook his head and stuck his right arm out between them where Mitch tentatively poked the dark blue scales.

"It's tough!" the blond said in surprise and Nero just nodded.

"It's like armor, or that's what Dante says. See where the end of the gold lines are? Where it's kinda reddish?" Mitch nodded and ran his finger along one of the lines, Nero giggled a little.

"What?"

"That tickles…"

"Sorry!"

"It's okay, anyway, that's where Dante says I'll end up having the most armor on it."

"Wait, it's still growing?" Mitch asked and Nero stood to his rather short height and glared at his friend.

"Do I look like I'm done growing to you?" he demanded, his friend grinned but shook his head. "Then my arm isn't either, at least that's what I think."

"Why's it glowing?"

"Dante says…"

"Who is Dante? You keep talking about him."

"Dante's my dad, I'm still not used to having a dad so he's just been Dante or old man to me."

"Old man? Isn't it kinda mean to call you dad old?"

"He calls me a kid!"

"Nero, we're eleven, we _are _kids."

"Well… he looks like an old man with that white hair!"

"You have white hair too." Mitch snickered.

"Well! Well! He just is!"

A/N: I really like Nero's justification at the end XD anywho, I gotta hurry up and get to work!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	14. Mitch Meet Dante

A/N: Hey guys! I'm back from my hectic July 4th celebrations! I had a ton of fun over the holiday… when I wasn't at work… I'm gonna have a moment of rant: I seriously hate my job, I hate working with people, I'm not a people person. At all. This is one of the many reasons I want to be an engineer, I get to work with computers or teams of people that I actually know. Not random people I have to wait on. This is all made leaps and bounds better by the fact that it's a family business so I'm working with my aunt and dad and cousin and other relatives -_- Some days I just wanna scream. Yup. I'm done now. Thanks for listening, or most of you just skipped over this entire thing and I'm ranting to nobody… yup. Chapter time!

Disclaimer: Yeah… about that… I kinda lost it… ;p

Mitch. Meet Dante.

Mitch was still snickering when Nero sat back down, mismatched arms crossed grouchily over his chest, the right flickering. The taller boy noticed this and asked his friend about it.

"It seems to react to my emotions. It gets brighter when I'm angry or nervous or…" he trailed off, he wasn't sure if he should tell his friend about what he learned in his spare time or not.

"Or what?" Mitch's brown eyes were wide with curiosity.

"When I sense other demons."

"Other demons? You can sense them?"

"Every demon has an aura, it's like this kind of… sense about them. Just like everyone smells different or has different voices. It's a sense but I feel it here," Nero tapped the back of his head, "and here." He touched his arm.

"Does it ever turn different colors?" Mitch asked, continuing to observe the demonic limb. Nero looked at his friend although he were crazy.

"Why the heck would it do that?" the partial devil asked, Mitch fixed him with a blank glare.

"Dude, you're arm is blue and glows. Why not?" Nero just shrugged and grabbed the bandages from where they'd fallen on the floor.

"Does it ever bother you to wrap it up?"

"It's annoying and makes the skin a little raw but I have to."

"Why don't you leave it undone while you're here then? I think it's pretty cool and it's not going to bug me any."

"But what if your mom comes up here?" Mitch didn't answer but allowed his friend to wrap up his arm.

-Family of Happenstance-

The next day passed by as it typically would and the boys met up after school as per usual.

"Hey." Mitch grinned.

"Hey." Nero smirked back, falling into step with his friend. He tilted his head in question when Mitch's face fell a little.

"We uh… can't go over to my house today… my mom's got a bunch of her friends over…" Nero paused then said.

"Why don't you come over to my place tonight, I mean then you're not bugging you mom either." The blonde's face brightened.

"Can I?"

"I think so, can I borrow your phone so I can call my dad." Nero was slightly jealous of his friend's hand-me-down phone. It was old and beaten up but it was still a functioning phone. Even asking Dante for one was useless, the old man didn't even have one himself, apparently the thing wasn't worth it because it would always just get destroyed on most of his missions. The partial devil punched in the memorized phone number and waited only a couple of rings before his father picked up the phone.

"Devil May Cry."

"Hey old man."

"Hey kid!" he could practically hear the grin in Dante's voice. "You goin' over to Mitch's today?"

"Um… no. I was wondering… could he come over to our house?" there was a pause and Nero was half afraid that the older man would say no.

"Do you trust this kid?"

"Dante… he uh… knows about me."

"What do you mean?"

"He _knows_."

"And he didn't freak out?"

"No."

"Yeah, I don't see why he can't come over, as long as he doesn't mind the trophies on the walls. Oh! And as long as he doesn't mind having pizza for dinner! That's a requirement!" Nero put a hand over the microphone.

"Do you like pizza?" he asked Mitch

"Who doesn't?" the blond said

"Yeah." The partial devil told his father.

"Sure then, bring the new kid over."

"Thanks old man!" Nero beamed

"No problem, see ya soon." The connection cut off and the white haired boy handed the phone back to Mitch and practically began dragging the boy in the direction of the devil hunting shop.

When they arrived there Mitch's eyes grew wide.

"I've heard of this place before… my cousin says it's haunted by all kinds of monsters…" Nero looked at him strangely.

"Nope. Just me and the old man live here, it's also Dante's business." He pushed the door open and the two preteens wandered in.

"What does he _do_?" the blond asked, staring around at the various devil arms and demon skulls adorning the walls.

"He's a demon slayer, people call him when they need help and he goes and kills the monsters."

"That's so cool!" he looked like he was about to say more but was cut off by shouting upstairs and the sound of a gunshot. Mitch winced but Nero just rolled his eyes. Moments later Lady came storming down the stairs, looking angry but successful.

"Oh, hello Nero." She said, smiling "Hello Nero's friend."

"Hi Lady, this is my friend Mitch; Mitch, this is Dante's coworker, Lady."

"It's nice to meet you." She said, shaking the blonde's hand.

"It's nice to meet you too." Mitch returned, more than a little startled by Lady's clothes and the many guns hanging off her belt.

"You shoot the old man again?" Nero asked and the huntress just smiled knowingly.

"You might want to give him a little space." She winked

"LADY!" came a furious roar from the top of the stairs.

"That's my cue to go." She grabbed Kalina Ann and walked out of the building, just in time for Dante to leap the railing. He looked pretty angry and there was still blood running down his face from the healed bullet wound. The half devil took notice of his son and friend then, both of whom were fidgeting slightly.

"Hey kid." The elder sighed, defeated

"Hey old man, this is my friend Mitch."

A/N: Hehe… not really a cliffhanger but still… I had a moment of panic in the middle of the chapter because my computer turned off for no reason so once I got it turned back on I backed up all my files. According to my best friend my computer is a zombie computer that should've died years ago, she refuses to take it apart because she's afraid it'll die the moment she does and I'm a little scared that it's finally starting to poop out… O.o

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	15. Introductions

A/N: Hello friends! So my boyfriend swam a 5k yesterday, he was so sure he was going to die afterwards, I laughed, mostly because he had to work as soon as we got back from Detroit XD Silly boy… I posted pictures of him racing on facebook and the last one is of him sleeping on my lap :3 Cause he pretty much passed out on the way home, especially after we stopped for food… Alright, sorry, I'll stop prattling on about my boy, you guys probably don't care anyway do you?

Disclaimer: Am I a little young to own DMC? Yes. Yes I am.

Introductions

Dante, as per his usual self, paid no mind to the fact that he was dripping blood onto the floor and instead gave the two boys in the room a grin.

"Hey Mitch, I'm Nero's dad, Dante." Mitch looked a little worried.

"Um… you're bleeding." Was the blonde's response.

"Yeah, Lady and her stupid trigger happy finger." The half devil grumbled, wiping blood from his face with a sleeve.

"So she actually shot you?!" the taller of the two boys was now openly stunned. Nero just snickered at how his father's face fell.

"Yeah, she did. I don't think she realizes the fact that just because I can survive being shot in the head doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt."

"She shoots him a lot." Nero whispered in his friend's ear.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh at the old man's pain," Dante ushered them out of the doorway and into the room where the partial devil immediately dumped his backpack and his friend followed suit. Mitch was surprised when Nero started pulling off the bandages on his arm.

"How's it lookin' kid?" the slayer asked, he'd plopped down on the couch and was watching his son unwrap the demonic limb.

"No worse than yesterday." Nero replied, flexing his fingers and wincing lightly.

"Your fingers still bothering you?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have a demon arm?" Mitch suddenly piped up, addressing Dante. The half devil looked up in surprise.

"No, I don't, why do you ask?"

"Well, Nero told me that you're part demon too so I thought that maybe you'd have a demon arm or something…"

"Nope, aside from my hair, I look like any other human being." The slayer replied, Nero couldn't help but notice something in his father's eyes that struck him as strange. It was like the older man wasn't telling the whole truth…

The evening passed in a blur of stories and games, Nero and Mitch faced off against the shop owner in a game of pool, which they won.

"Geez old man, you got beat by a couple of eleven year olds, you really do stink at this game." The smaller preteen snickered.

"Shut up kid." The half devil growled lightly, light humor in his eyes. "Maybe I just went easy on you so that you could feel cool with your friend."

"Nope. That was the best you had, I've seen you play the same way with Lady when the entirety of your debt is on the line. You know she only makes that bet because she knows you're a terrible gambler and that you'll never win."

"Mitch, can you do me a favor?" Dante asked the blond.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Hold the punk next to you down until I'm done with him." Mitch grinned and went to tackle his friend who had already moved off to the other side of the couch. This began a great romp around the office which eventually ended with both boys sitting on top of the slayer in red.

"Surrender!" Nero shouted, pinning his father's arms.

"Never!" the half devil returned, rising to his feet and carrying both boys over to the couch and tossing them gently onto it. He then flopped next to them with a large sigh.

"Hey Dante?" Mitch asked once they had all taken a few minutes to breathe.

"Yeah?"

"What're all the weapons on the walls from?" Nero grinned at his friend's question. That had been one of his first upon arriving at Devil May Cry.

"Most of them are devil arms, weapons with special powers, that I've collected over the years. I still use some of them to hunt demons. Nero has his own too." Dante ruffled his son's hair; the boy fixed it and glared at him. His friend on the other hand turned to look at him with surprise.

"You have some?" he asked

"Kinda," Nero replied "I'm really just borrowing them."

"Can I see them?" Mitch's eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"Uh… I guess?" the partial devil looked to his father who just nodded a grin on his face.

"Sweet!" the two hopped up from the couch and Nero dashed up to his room, Mitch hot on his tail. Once up there the white haired boy pulled out the pistol he'd been working with lately. This one was slightly larger than the one he'd started with and had a little more recoil but he was picking it up quicker than he had last time. He made sure that it wasn't loaded and handed it to his friend.

"Whoa…" Mitch held it out in front of him "Pow!" he yelled before looking at it again.

"And this…" Nero pulled his sword out of the corner where it'd been gently propped up "is Alastor." Mitch all but dropped the gun upon seeing the sword in Nero's hand.

"That is so cool! C-can I see it?" Nero hesitated, looking at the blade in his hands.

"I don't know…"

"I just wanna get a closer look."

"It's not that I don't think you won't be careful, it's that I don't know if that's okay with Alastor." Mitch looked at his friend for a moment, head slightly tilted to one side.

"Huh?"

"Dante didn't explain it quite all the way but devil arms aren't just weapons with special powers, they used to be demons themselves and now they're weapons. So Alastor was a dragon, I don't know if he minds you holding him."

"Oh, can I at least look closer?"

"Yeah!" Nero lay the blade on his bed where the two leaned over it and share in every young boy's dreams of adventure.

A/N: Yeah I know the ending kinda sucked but I needed to break it off _somewhere _anyway I've got tons more writing to do tonight so my Neko!Nero fans keep on the lookout, there will be a chapter tonight!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	16. Observations

A/N: Hello my friends, well at least I consider you my friends, I have no idea if the feeling's mutual. I totally remembered what I wanted to put in my A/N! I wanted to say that I found out that the last episode of Hellsing Ultimate is out! If you don't know what that is, it's like the bloodiest, goriest vampire anime you'll ever see in your life, but it's amazing and my best friend and I are going to have an anime night soon and rewatch the series. :3 so excited! Also! I finally got the idea for my next original story! It's been niggling at the edge of my brain _forever _and now I've finally got it! It's got to do with making a deal with a devil and it's so awesome, I can't wait to get started on it! Speaking of devils, if you like this series (which I hope you do if you're reading fanfiction on it) I can almost guarantee that you'll like the series Ao No Exorcist (or Blue Exorcist), cause it's got the same theme of a half devil fighting other demons (and Nero's VA voices one of the main characters! Squee!), I won't give anything away but you should definitely check it out!

Lana: Lol, yup public and for everyone to see. I haven't been watching it as much lately because I got caught up in watching the dub of Blue Exorcist (mostly cause Johnny voices Yukio and I love his voice, kinda makes me almost like Yukio… almost. The manga's making me want to hate him again). And this new hilarious show called Is This A Zombie? Cause what's not funny about a zombie, necromancer, magical garment girl, and vampire ninja all living together?

Disclaimer: *pouts childishly* no. I don't wanna.

Observations

The demon kneeled before its master, though it could easily overpower this man, it feared him, for this man had summoned it from its home and threatened it with death. Already many of the demon's comrades and kin had been slaughtered by the very man in front of him for little more than this mysterious thing the man called "research."

"I t-t-take it you couldn't get the boy?" the man said, staring down his nose at the demon, who just whimpered and lowered its head.

"Did you even get c-c-close to him?" he snarled, glaring at the low level creature, said creature turned away, confirming the man's suspicion. The demon winced and curled in on itself before the man flicked his hand and several suits of armor became animate and rushed the terrified demon.

Its shrieking had just faded when another man entered the room, he was immaculate with a crisp white uniform, stern brown eyes, and a polished saber at his side.

"Agnus, it is a waste to kill them for small errors." The new man said. The researcher spun upon hearing the other, looking startled and skittish.

"C-c-credo!" He exclaimed before recovering himself. "Well it's impolite not to knock before entering."

"My apologies." Credo said without so much as an inclination of his head, it infuriated Agnus to no end. The commanding officer was always acting as though he were superior, who was it that did all the research? Performed all the experiments? Certainly not this man, not a _soldier_. Agnus adjusted his monocle and stood a little straighter, meeting Credo's glare.

"What do you want?" he grumped, knowing from experience that he was _not _going to win a glare down with the other.

"Our leader requests that you move forward in your experiments. I stepped up as volunteer." Credo clasped his hands behind his back, it was the only sign of his nervousness but Agnus knew the officer too well for it to go unnoticed. He grinned, the type of vile thing that made a good person shudder, and motioned his new experiment forward.

"Come along then my friend, I hope you had your fill of the sun today, it's going to be a long, long time before you see the sky again." Credo took internally prepared himself and then followed the researcher.

-Family of Happenstance-

Mitch woke up the next morning and sat up, he'd had the most peculiar dream, it'd been filled with talking swords and blue trees. He looked around and realized he was still in Nero's bedroom, he made a mental note not to eat that much popcorn before bed again and looked over at his friend. The smaller boy was curled up into a ball, his demonic hand gripping tightly at his pillow. This didn't surprise Mitch, until he saw the large tears in the pillow, the partial devil sighed and stretched his body out, giving his friend a pretty good view of sharp talons that now decorated the ends of his fingers.

"Nero." Mitch whispered, shaking the white haired boy. No reaction.

"Nero!" he tried again, a little louder, still nothing.

"_Nero!_" he pulled the blankets from the other boy, who sputtered and fell on the floor with a loud thump.

"Ouch!" Nero grumbled, sitting up and glaring at his friend. "What'd you do that for?"

"You weren't waking up."

"Why were you trying to wake me up to begin with?"

"Because, look at your hand! You totally have claws!"

"What?!" Nero squeaked, putting his demonic arm up in front of his face and looking at the sharp talons on his blue fingers, he flexed them a few times and tested one on his other hand, surprised at how little pressure it took to break the skin.

"Ouch," he mumbled, sucking on the finger until the bleeding stopped.

"That's so cool…" Mitch whispered, looking at his friend's fingers

"No it's not." The partial devil said, clenching his right hand into a fist.

"Why not?"

"It just makes me less human, more of a monster. It's not fair, my dad doesn't have anything like this. It's just me." The blond tilted his head, confused as to why Nero was so upset.

"It doesn't make you less human? Why would it?"

"Normal people don't have claws Mitch."

"Normal people don't have teeth that are as sharp as mine either." The taller boy countered, showing off his clean, but fairly sharp canines, he put his face right up to Nero's, just to make sure that the other saw it. Nero got the point and giggled a little.

"Dude, your breath stinks." He shoved his friend, who snickered.

"Mitch! Nero! You guys hungry or are you gonna sleep all day?" the two looked at each other before dashing for the stairs.

A/N: Yup. Not much to say down here other than I'm tired and it is freaking hard to write Credo and Agnus.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	17. Review of Time

A/N: You guys are so spoiled you know that? I went to the county fair tonight and am so exhausted, all I wanna do is curl up in bed and play a little minecraft before going to sleep. But _no _I _have _to get a chapter out cause I feel so obligated to give it to you. Rrrrrrrgh I'm sleepy and grumpy, but that doesn't mean I can't write… In other news I accidentally ripped off half my toenail with a vacuum cleaner, yup, a vacuum cleaner so yeah… don't know how I managed that one…

Disclaimer: Let's not and say we did.

Review of Time

It'd been nearly a year since Dante had come home to find a son on his doorstep and the little runt had really grown on him. He'd continued to teach Nero how to shoot and fight, which was a sometimes great and other times seemed like the biggest chore ever. He remembered one of the times where he'd been trying to correct the younger's stance so he wouldn't lose his balance in the midst of a standoff.

"Widen your stance."

"Shut up old man, I already did."

"Nero if you don't widen your stance you're going to end up on your butt."

"I don't see you with a wide stance."

"That's because I'm busy trying to get it drilled into your thick skull." The preteen let out a tiny growl and hurled Alastor like a spear, catching the elder in the stomach by surprise. This led to some yelling and threatening taking away of some video games. At that moment, Nero learned that listening to his father when it came to fighting was probably a good idea and that throwing his sword in frustration, especially at the older half devil, was something to be avoided.

Another memory jumped into Dante's mind at the thought of being injured, this one much sweeter than the last.

He'd just returned from a mission that had taken a lot more out of him than he thought it would've. He stumbled in the door of Devil May Cry and collapsed to the floor, unable to move any farther, his entire body hurt, burning with poison and stinging with injuries that refused to heal with his nervous system being a bit fried on top of that. To be honest he was surprised that he'd made it all the way back to the office without turning himself into a pretzel around a tree.

"Dante!" He heard Lady call and the patter of smaller feet just behind hers. No… he thought, don't let Nero see me like this, he doesn't need to see this gruesome side of demon slaying. It was too late for that, his bleary eyes could barely make out his son standing there, staring at him with horror struck eyes before he came unglued and rushed over to help Lady haul him to the couch.

"Old man!" the preteen squeaked. The huntress was already assessing the elder's wounds, trying to apply pressure to the gash on his stomach while asking him questions all the while. He heard none of them; all he could focus on was the boy in front of him. _His _son, his living legacy.

"Dante!" The partial devil was crying, Dante twitched a hand over the boy's.

"Nero…" He was slipping out of consciousness but not before he heard his son call out.

"Dad! Daddy!"

It was quite some time later that the half devil woke up, feeling much better and more like himself. He was surprised to look over and see that Nero was asleep in the bed alongside him. Dante carefully lifted an arm and ruffled the boy's hair; blue eyes fluttered open then widened with realization.

"Y-you're awake!"

"Yup." The elder chuckled when the preteen threw his arms around his father's neck.

"How are you feeling?"

"Much, much better, though it'll probably be another day before I'm back at 100%."

"You're such an idiot!" Dante could tell the kid was crying and gently put his arms around the boy. "Don't take that dangerous of a mission on your own again! You really scared me dad…" the last part was whispered so quietly that the elder wasn't sure he'd heard right at first but he just smiled and answered.

"I won't."

-Family of Happenstance-

Credo held back another wince as pain spiked through his muscles once again. It was impossible to tell how long he'd been down here in this hellhole. Agnus was ruthless, injecting him with all sorts of chemicals and things. The only thought that held him together was that he might one day be able to save his sister from the demons that plagued the world. That and that one day he might be reunited with her. How long had it been since she'd been put into foster care? It seemed like he'd been in this laboratory for eons, like this torture would never, ever stop… Recently his body had begun to change, his skin seemed tougher, paler (though that could just be because he hadn't been outside in god knows how long), his eyesight clearer, his hearing sharper. Something was changing, he just didn't know how or into what.

A/N: Okay so it's a really short chapter but my brain's fried and I'm typing this with my eyes closed cause I'm so tired… so so tired…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	18. Surprises

A/N: Hey everybody! So I should be typing two chapters tonight but… It's pretty late and yeah… so you will all get a chapter of Neko!Nero _and _Family of Happenstance tomorrow. I just watched a video called "Why are things creepy?" and am currently fighting off shivers and paranoia… I love and hate creepy things. Which explains why I read Steven King. So! My friend and I watched the last episode of Hellsing Ultimate and WOW! It was worth waiting six months for! That show is phenomenal (if very bloody) and if you like vampires and a sexy vampire with awesome hair (seriously, Alucard's hair is amazing), go watch Hellsing Ultimate. On that note, I will begin the chapter that I should've started an hour ago… I could've been done by now, wow, way to go Leigh…. Way to go…

Disclaimer: Lol! You're so funny!

Surprises

Credo was in pain, not that it seemed like he ever truly escaped it in all the time that he'd been in the laboratory but sometimes it wasn't as intense, he could still function. Not today though, today the soldier wanted to cry, which was something that he _refused_ to allow Agnus to see, not that pathetic being.

A low keening sound breeched the air and the man realized that it was coming from himself, he was curled up in a ball, futilely resisting the tremors that wracked through his frame. He could _feel _his body changing, his back ached, his arm felt as stiff at a steel rod and he felt sick to his stomach. The man gave a small yelp when the pain increased, was he going to die? Everything seemed sluggish and his body burned too hot… too much… how was he supposed to survive this?

Credo must've passed out at some point but when he awoke again he was no longer human, downy white feathers covered his body where deep purple scales did not, he slowly pushed to his feet- talons- feeling off balance before tripping over the tail he didn't know he had and bracing against the wall for support.

"Magnificent…" Agnus whispered from the outside of Credo's cell. His creation was something of true power and beauty, a deadly beauty but amazing all the same. The soldier looked down at the purple claws that had once been human hands and then up to the smiling researcher in front of him.

"What did you do to me?"

-Family of Happenstance-

"Do you think it's ever gonna stop?" Nero asked his father, looking at his arm with a mix of disgust and resignation.

"I can't see the future kid." The elder reminded the boy, but looked down at the tough red hide that had formed in the past few months anyway.

"It's been this way for quite awhile now hasn't it?"

"Yeah… but…"

"No buts kid, if it hasn't changed in nearly a month then why do you think it would change now?"

"I don't know…"

"It's not hurting again is it?" Dante looked at his son worriedly

"No, at least, not very much."

"So it has been bothering you?"

"Only a little, don't worry about it old man, it probably just has to do with the increase in demons lately." The twelve year old waved the matter off with his human hand but the half devil wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"I know that there's more demons right now, it's normal for this time of year, are you sure it's not something else?" he looked at the small red and blue arm that lay in the preteen's lap.

"That's what I think it is. Now are we gonna train or not?" The partial devil jumped off the couch and snagged Alastor.

"Put the sword down, we're gonna do hand to hand today, that is, if your arms up to it." Dante raised a brow, he didn't want to hurt the kid, if he needed a day off from training, he'd give the younger one.

"Yeah…" Nero sighed, resting his borrowed sword on the couch.

"That didn't sound very convincing."

"You know I'm not that fond of hand to hand old man." The preteen grumped, crossing his arms and pouting slightly, Dante felt his already weak will crumbling further, he couldn't resist the boy's puppy eyes. The half devil sighed, bowing his head in defeat before taking an unexpected blow to the back of his legs and crumpling forward as his knees instinctively gave out.

"Shit!" he swore, rolling forward to avoid the blow his son was about to deliver to his side. Nero was hot to trot and giving the hand to hand fight everything his young body had, the elder felt lucky when he managed to maneuver them into the basement where they usually sparred, the kid was really starting to get good.

Once down there the half devil kept the fight interesting, defending and dealing out very minor offensive blows that kept Nero just barely on the losing edge. He wanted to see how long the younger could keep his cool, it wasn't a question that the preteen would lose it, he was too hot tempered to remain calm in this kind of situation.

It wasn't even five minutes later that the partial devil gave an infuriated yell, his demonic arm glowing fiercely as he swung it into his father's gut. And then his anger melted away into stunned silence as the elder rocketed into the far wall.

"Ouch…" Dante grunted as he picked himself out of the nice spider web of cracks his body had created. "That actually hurt…"

"Dad!" Nero yelped, coming unglued from the spot where he'd been frozen. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…" the half devil chuckled and ruffled his son's hair.

"That was awesome Nero, that thing can do way more than you thought originally. Still think it's a bad thing?" He smirked at the preteen who was watching him with _wide _blue eyes.

"I just punched you into the wall! How did I just punch you into the wall?!" the younger was too confused to be proud or even scared of what he'd just done.

"Demonic power kid, I'm sure that there are a lot of things that you can do that you don't even realize yet."

"But how did I just punch you into the wall?!"

A/N: XD I'm amused by the image of little Nero flailing around in pure confusion, plus Credo's part is getting _really _interesting.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	19. Learning

A/N: I have _way _too many distractions right now… I'm listening to Wake Me Up by Avicii (you should've seen me at work when I secretly put it on in the pro shop…) and then we ate dinner (yum, homemade pizza :)) and my brother and I are probably going to go and get ice cream later and I'm super tempted to get a strawberry sundae just to put myself further into the DMC mood XD Anyway, I won't make excuses for why I've been missing so long, I will say however that the last few weeks before leaving for college are very stressful and if my updates are sparse in the next two weeks, don't be concerned, I'm just trying to spend as much time as possible with my family and boyfriend before I leave for Kalamazoo. On a (kind of) happier note, I have a longboard now! It's so much fun! My boyfriend and I went down the trail near my house and my calves are burning!

Disclaimer: Oh! Oh! Wait for it…. Wait for it….I don't own Devil May Cry! *gasp*

Guest: I know you reviewed Ch. 1 but I'll reply anyway, I know it doesn't work that way, it's wonky for a reason :p There is a method to my madness XD Thanks for the review!

Learning

Nero's arms were out by his sides and his jaw was practically on the ground as he continued to gape at the damage he'd done.

"Kid?" Dante was starting to get a little concerned, he snapped his fingers in front of the boy's face and his son blinked.

"Dad!" the preteen pointed at the cracks in the basement wall "How did I _do _that?" The half devil just started chuckling at the boy.

"I've told you twice now kid, it's part of your demonic power, do you remember what it felt like when you used it?"

"Yeah, I was really angry." Nero said, finally starting to come out of the shock of his own abilities. "I couldn't seem to get the upper hand and it was really makin me mad and then it felt like my arm went VWOOF!"

"Vwoof?" the elder echoed, not quite following the partial devil's explanation.

"Nonono, more like VWOOF!" the white haired boy threw both hands up in the air with his explanation, trying in vain to describe the explosion-y sensation that had shot through his arm, but explosion-y wasn't even really right, it had rippled too, like fire…

"Do you think you could do it again?" the shop owner asked, taking a stance across from his son, beckoning at him with his hands. Nero looked doubtful for a moment before taking a deep breath and taking his own stance and then jumping back into the fight. It took less time than it had before, the partial devil became irritated but this time noticed when the sensation built up in his arm. This time he harnessed it and after Dante recovered from his crash with the wall he saw cerulean flames flowing off his son's arm. Nero watched them fade and then looked at his father with a huge grin on his face.

"THAT'S AWESOME!"

"What's awesome?" Mitch's head poked around the corner of the stairs.

-Family of Happenstance-

"I did simply as His Holiness wished; I've made you into an angel." Agnus informed the soldier who was attempting to stay upright against the wall. Credo winced at the sound of the scientist's voice was too loud, he looked down upon his own body with disgust, his new tail twitching and slapping against the wall, startling the man every time it did so.

"I am no angel…" he whispered, why did it take this long to realize? All along, this had never been a mission to make him into an angel, he was no closer to the Savior that His Holi- no, _Sanctus _spoke of. No, he had become a demon, the very thing that he fought. The soldier hung his head, when did he sink so low? His sister would never accept him as this, not the little innocent girl that he remembered. The former human felt his eyes sting but the tears would not come to him, it was far too late for him… but maybe… maybe… He'd seen the little boy that they were after, the grandson of the very Savior that they worshipped, it was wrong, so very wrong… maybe he could protect the little one that they were going to use for their sacrifice. Maybe that would help him atone for some small part of his sins, of the horrific deeds he had thought nothing of as they were "His Holiness' wishes" but now they seemed… terrible.

"W-what?" Agnus said, the soldier was muttering to himself, who was superior now? The scientist thought to himself.

"It may be too late for me. But I will not stand for this anymore." Credo stated, standing to his full height and was startled to feel _wings _stretch out behind him. Just what kind of demon had he become? Nothing that he'd ever seen before, that was for sure.

"And what are you going t-to do?" Agnus sneered, standing straighter himself outside the cage that Credo was imprisoned in. The soldier nearly jumped at the angry snarl that ripped its way out of his throat. The scientist merely laughed and turned down the hall.

"J-just shout if you ch-change your mind." With that he was gone and the former human sank to his knees suddenly feeling very weak. He watched with weary fascination as the purple scales faded back into pale, weak, _human _skin. Moments later the brunette collapsed onto his side, panting and as human as he'd been a year ago.

After taking a few deep breaths he pulled himself into a sitting position, the captain of the guards looked at his hands. Was the change simply temporary? No… he could feel the power deep inside, sleeping, waiting to be called upon again. Now… now he just had to figure out how to access it again.

A/N: So… yeah I went and got that strawberry sundae… I'm pathetic… hehe… but in my defense, they are delicious! Anyway, next chapter of Neko!Nero! will be tomorrow cause I really want to beat OoT before I go to college…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	20. The Forbidden Room

A/N: Hello my friends! So I'm on my way to Kalamazoo right now to move into Western Michigan University! I'm so excited and nervous at the same time :3 Anyway, I don't start classes until next week and as I'm starting a completely new phase in my life, I will make no promises on how my updates will be ^.^; Now I wanna say a quick thanks to all of you who have fav, followed, or reviewed this, you guys continue to make my days brighter everytime I see one in my inbox

Disclaimer: Do college students own much of anything? I thought not.

Lana: Shut up, I'm a busy person ;p I'm actually having a lot of fun with Credo's part, I thought it'd be a pain but it's really fun! And yeah, I just wanna squee at the idea of little Nero :3 don't make fun of my updating habits! I'm still adjusting to being a college girl! Thanks for the review!

The Forbidden Room

"Hey Mitch." Dante waved as the blond preteen finished down the last couple steps, seeing Nero with his arm unwrapped and the glow a little brighter than it normally was. "Nero and I were just sparring." The half devil explained.

"Look!" the shorter boy said excitedly, pointing at the spider web cracks along the wall, Mitch looked and his eyes widened.

"What is that?"

"That's what my arm can do! I was just sparring with my dad and VWOOSH!" This time as Nero tried to explain the sensation that had caused the elder to rocket across the room his arm lit up, a flicker of those cerulean flames running up it. Dante smiled a little, his boy was beginning to understand his own power. Before anything else could be said the phone upstairs rang and the half devil dashed up to get it, leaping rather epically over Mitch on the way.

"Showoff." The partial devil muttered as he heard his father answer the old phone with his classic

"Devil May Cry."

"So what were you doing? How did you make those cracks?" Mitch asked eyes wide and curious.

"My dad says it's part of my demonic power. It's kinda hard to do though; it didn't happen until I got really angry."

"Do you think you could show me?"

"Maybe…" Nero said and Dante called down the stairs

"Hey boys, I just had a mission called in, do you think that you can hold down the fort for a few hours? I'll pick up something for dinner on my way home."

"Sure!" the two preteens shouted and a few moments later they heard the heavy doors of the office close.

"So can you show me?" Mitch asked again

"I can try." The white haired boy closed his eyes, focusing on the power in his arm, trying to get that feeling again, with another breath he shot his arm forward at the wall with a "Hyah!" only to feel the shock jar all the way up to his shoulder.

"Oooowwww…" he muttered, shaking his tingling hand out as his friend snickered at him. "Okay, I got this." The second result was the same, as was the third and the fourth… the fifth time Nero tried though, that incredible sensation exploded out of his body and the wall cracked impressively. The partial devil turned to his friend who was staring at him with wide shocked eyes.

"That's amazing!"

"I know!" the preteen said, grinning widely.

The boys horsed around for a while, Nero showing off what he'd learned recently with his sword and gun but eventually the two became bored and Mitch asked.

"Hey Nero, what's in that room?" he pointed to the door in the back right of the main office.

"That's my dad's weapon room," the partial devil answered, leaning back on the couch as he had been before.

"His weapon room? He has more than what's on the walls?" the blond looked around at the many devil arms that coated the office.

"Yeah, all the ammo and cleaning stuff for the weapons, plus whatever ones he doesn't use very often." Mitch's eyes were about the size of dinner plates,

"Can we go look at them?" Nero looked back at him, wary.

"My dad doesn't really let me go in there without supervision." The smaller preteen said a little quieter.

"C'mon Nero." Mitch all but whined, still staring at the closed door. The partial devil gave a huge sigh before, jumping up off the couch and saying,

"Alright just don't touch anything okay?"

"Sure!" the two boys went over to the door which luckily wasn't locked, though Nero had hoped that it would be, he didn't want to get caught somewhere he shouldn't be.

"Wow…" Mitch breathed, looking over the shelves and shelves of weapons and ammo, most of which looked a little dusty and disused. "Are all these your dad's?" the blond asked

"Most of them, some of them are Trish's or Lady's too, my dad lets them store them here but they usually forget that they've left them here."

"Look at that one." Mitch pointed and Nero followed his eyes to find a long Japanese style sword, what had his dad told him that they were called…? Oh right, a katana. The katana rested in a navy scabbard but unlike the others this one wasn't dusty, it looked like it was well cared for but the partial devil had never seen his father pull it out of the closet, in fact, he'd never seen it before today. Nero felt his arm pulse in an almost painful way, and the katana gave a small flash, the two boys looked at each other, stunned.

"Your arm just flashed!" the blond said and as he did the boy's demonic arm lit up again and Nero winced at the feeling, it was powerful, in an overwhelming kind of way. The katana lit up again, this time in sync with Nero's arm.

"It's calling me…" the preteen whispered, feeling that power pulling him in, without even thinking about it he reached forward, bright blue fingers splayed wide.

"Nero! I don't think that's a good idea!" Mitch stepped in front of his friend, the partial devil's eyes were unfocused but when Mitch got between him and the sword those blue eyes snapped to the blond and Mitch watched as the edges of Nero's irises turned bright red.

"_Move._" Nero growled and Mitch gulped but didn't budge. The partial devil glared and pushed past his friend, the rational part of his mind screaming that this was wrong, that he shouldn't do this, but his body was focused on that feeling of power that throbbed through him… he was so close… so close… the katana pulsed in sync with his arm, it almost seemed as though it was whispering to him…one more step and Nero's clawed fingers wrapped around the hilt…

A/N: Hahaha! Omigod I wanna write the next chapter so bad! Sorry about the lack of updates over the week but I just moved into my dorm and welcome week is insane! I had barely enough time to sleep, let alone write anything. Anywho,

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	21. Power

A/N: Hello everyone! I know that you're all excited for this next chapter and I'm super excited to give it to you, I'm trying to fight off sleep to get this done but I just wanna type it soooo bad! Actually all my updates I wanna type bad… I should leave cliffhangers more often.

Disclaimer: I own the games, does that count?

Power

Dante knew something was wrong before he even finished his mission, in his rush to return home he didn't even stop to collect his pay or even tell the man that the mission had been a success, all that mattered was that something was happening in his nest and he had to find out what. The half devil's sensitive ears picked up the sound of Nero's screams before he'd even made it down the street, the sound making him force his legs faster, his kin was in danger, and he had to protect his blood. The doors to the shop burst open with such force that the elder would later wonder at how they didn't fly off the hinges.

Nero lay on the ground, his arm practically a beacon, curled around… Dante's eyes widened as he saw Yamato in his son's grip. He could tell that the boy wasn't ready for the power contained in that sword, the demon within the blade wasn't submitting easily and it was hurting him.

"Nero!" The elder shouted, rushing forward and kneeling next to the boy, the preteen didn't seem to hear his father; his screams were agonizing to the older man's ears.

"Nero let go of the sword." He commanded, the partial devil's shrieks quieted and Dante thought he was getting through until his son opened his eyes, tiny hints of crimson in them and said.

"_Power. Give me more…power." _The words shook the slayer to the bones, it sounded just like Vergil, and it was quite possible that part of his brother's soul had joined with the sword after death, that would explain why the damn thing was being so assertive. Time for plan B, Dante thought to himself, and grabbed ahold of the blade and tried to pull it away from his son. The boy screamed and the entire blade was wrapped in a brilliantly blue light, his right arm pulsing practically white.

"Nero! Drop the damn sword!" Dante shouted, pulling with as much strength as he dared, as much as he wanted to get the sword away from the boy, he didn't want to rip the preteen's arm off. Nero had gotten to his feet and was making this as difficult as possible, squirming and wiggling in his attempts to get away.

"No!" he shouted at one point, at least sounding like himself, giving Dante a hard enough shove to make the half devil take a step back. Nero then slashed out with Yamato and Dante sucked in air as he felt the lower half of his abdomen trying to stitch itself together. He could try triggering and forcing the sword to submit but that was an absolute last resort; instead he dropped to his knees and hugged the boy, who froze in his grasp.

"Please Nero, please just let go of the sword, for your father, please?" he felt the preteen in his arms give a few shaky breaths then a clang as Yamato dropped to the floor. Another shaky inhale and Nero gave a choked sob.

"I'm so sorry daddy…" he cried, clutching tightly at his father's coat, the scents of blood and fear stung his nose, his own fear, and… Dante's blood.

"Did I hurt you?" he tried to push back and look his father in the eyes but the elder was having none of that.

"Just a little cut, nothing to be concerned about." The half devil held his son close, cradling the back of the boy's head to the crook of his neck. "Just don't do that again, okay?" Nero nodded, unable to do much else.

"The important question is are _you _okay?"

"I'm okay, I just hurt."

"Where?!" Dante pushed the boy back so that he could see his face and look him up and down.

"_Everywhere,_" Nero groaned "mostly my arm though." The half devil chuckled, the kid was fine, just sore from the attack Yamato had put on his body. Speaking of the sword, Dante glanced down at it, it seemed to have fallen into a semi-dormant state, he could still feel pulses of power radiating from the blade but they were weaker, more subdued.

"Dad?" the preteen whispered and the elder looked back to him, the boys gaze was on Yamato. "What happened to me?"

"Yamato is a devil arm." Dante said, not quite sure of where to begin. "It used to belong to my elder twin brother. The blade is extremely powerful and is picky about its master and who it'll submit to. I can get it to submit to me but I can't use it the way he used to, it seems like it was trying to call you out as its new owner."

"Then why did it hurt so bad?"

"Because you don't have enough control over your demonic blood yet, you don't know how to more or less put the demon in the sword in its place."

"Is that why I couldn't stop myself when I saw the sword? Mitch tried to…" the partial devil trailed off as his eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Mitch!" Father and son ran over to the weapon's closet, Mitch was in there, eyes wide, and shaking in the corner, looking terrified.

"Mitch," Dante said softly and the blonde's eyes snapped to him "are you okay?" Nero peeked around his father's waist and his friend cringed.

"He's not going to hurt you." The half devil's words were soft and Mitch slowly rose to his feet, still shaking and his eyes locked with Nero's.

"Nero why don't you go sit on the couch?" Dante suggested and the younger paused but nodded, leaving his father and friend.

"He looked like a monster." Mitch whispered.

A/N: Yes, another cliffie! Kinda… I just gotta say, this chapter was _incredible _to write as well as really difficult, it was hard to explain the relationship between devil arm and wielder, anywho, I's gots to clean my dorm and shower and all that XD

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	22. Fear

A/N: So I'm not going to get anywhere near finishing this right now 'cause my roommate just invited me to go see Insidious 2 with her (even though I've never seen the first one XP) so I'm mostly going to be writing this note and skimming the previous chapter before I have to go, by the way, I FOUND THE ANIME CLUB AT WMU! I'm so excited, they meet on Saturdays and now I can't wait for next Saturday at 2 :3 *squeals* so excited! My boyfriend's making fun of me for it hehe…

Disclaimer: College students own next to nothing, how many times do I have to explain this?

Crystal: I'm glad you enjoyed it, here's the next one. Thanks for the review!

Fear

"Mitch, you listen to me good and well." Dante said assertively, but not unkindly. "Nero is not a monster. He may have less control over his demonic blood than say I do but he is one of the kindest, gentlest little boys I know." Mitch didn't quite seem to hear the older man as he continued to tremble and stare in the direction in which Nero had vanished. Dante stepped into the blonde's line of sight and knelt so he was on eye level with the younger, whose vision finally seemed to focus on the half devil.

"Now I know you were scared Mitch, but you have to understand, that was not Nero, it was the demon in Yamato, in the sword he picked up. I should've kept it locked away better but it's too late for that now…"

"He looked like he wanted to hurt me, just cause I didn't want him to pick up the sword, it was bad, and he looked like he wanted to hurt me… Was Nero gonna hurt me?" the preteen looked into the slayer's eyes and the older man felt terrible, he never thought that he'd feel so guilty for his heritage in his life, but the look in that boy's eyes… He knew what that look would do to his son, part of him was angry with the boy, how dare he hurt his son like that? Part of him was angry with himself, how could he not think of locking the weapon room? But mostly, he just felt ashamed, ashamed of his demonic heritage and the pain it'd caused his son, ashamed of his own lack of foresight.

"Mitch please understand, this wasn't Nero's fault…"

"Can I go home?" Dante sighed in defeat but nodded

"Yeah, c'mon, I'll take you home." The elder stood and walked out of the weapons closet, Mitch close on his heels, Nero stood when the two exited but Dante just looked at him and shook his head, tears welled up in the young partial devil's eyes and he sat back on the couch.

-Family of Happenstance-

Nero saw his dad walk back into the shop a short time later, looking far older than the boy had ever seen him. Dante just looked at him with sad eyes and the younger burst into tears.

"I'm sorry daddy…" he curled in on himself, demonic arm thrown out to the side, trying to keep it as far away from himself as possible. Seeing his son in such a state made Dante want to cry himself.

"It's okay Nero," he went over to the boy and picked him up, depositing the younger in his lap and curling his arms around him. "Mitch'll come around; you just scared him is all."

"I didn't wanna scare him… I wasn't strong enough…" the preteen whispered, human fingers curling tightly into his father's shirt, small sobs working their way out of him.

"Shh… shh… it's okay kid…" the half devil said, clinging tighter to his son, pulling the boy's demonic arm in and planting a small kiss on the knuckles before wrapping his arms back around the younger and rocking him slightly. This was how Lady found them some hours later.

-Family of Happenstance-

"Mitch are you sure you're okay?" the blond heard his mom ask again from outside his door.

"I'm fine." He said, thankful his voice didn't waver when he said so.

"Are you…" Mrs. Galvan was interrupted by a wail from downstairs, she sighed and left. Mitch just put his head in his hands, the only thing that kept running through his mind was that _look _that Nero had given him before grabbing the sword. It was so… _inhuman_. The preteen shuddered, the image of the power wave rippling off his friend and the tortured screams that had escaped the partial devil's mouth ringing in his ears. He closed his eyes tighter and curled into a ball.

Mrs. Galvan wanted to melt when she handed the last child off to their respective parents. Today, had just been one of those exhausting days. She was surprised when Mr. Redgrave had brought Mitch home; she'd been expecting a call asking if he could spend the night over at Nero's. It was the first time she'd actually seen Mr. Redgrave and she would've talked to the man a little but there was something in his expression… Well call it a woman's intuition but she was sure that something had happened over at that house between the two boys; Mitch just wouldn't talk about it. Now that there were no further distractions though… the red haired woman grabbed a frozen pizza and threw it in the oven, set up plates and drinks in front of the TV and then called up the stairs to her son.

"Mitch it's time for dinner!"

"I'm not hungry." The boy called back, now the older woman was starting to get very concerned. She went up the stairs and knocked on her son's door.

"Honey, is everything okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm just not hungry." There was a slight waver in his voice and Jackie Galvan's face darkened.

"Mitch, I'm coming in." she announced, the preteen made no move to stop her, and she opened the door to find the blond curled up in a ball on his bed. "Hey sweetie, what's wrong?" she sat on the bed next to him and he looked up at her with blurry eyes.

"It's nothing…"

"It's obviously not nothing if you're crying about it, c'mon now; tell your mom what happened between you and Nero." Mitch shuddered at the mention of his friend

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't believe me." The preteen sniffled, burying his face again.

"You don't know that unless you tell me," his mother was now starting to get very worried, what was so bad that Mitch didn't think she'd believe him?

"It was just so scary… he… he looked like a monster…" Now Jackie was really confused.

"What do you mean? Did he trick you? What happened Mitch, you've got to talk to me."

"He… I wanted to see the other weapons… the ones in the closet…Nero said he wasn't supposed to go in there but I convinced him to anyway…"

"Weapons?!"

"Yeah, Dante's got a lot hanging all around the shop, we weren't gonna touch anything, I just wanted to see them."

"Shop? I thought you went over to his house?" What kind of place had her son been hanging around?

"It's the same thing," the preteen was looking at her again, that was a good sign.

"Okay… so, you went in the closet even though you weren't supposed to…" she prompted, she'd save all of her criticisms until she'd heard the whole story.

"Then…" Mitch shuddered "Then there was a really cool sword… and Nero touched it…" Mrs. Galvan immediately assumed the worst.

"Mitch are you hurt?" she demanded

"No…" he whispered so softly that his mother wasn't sure if she should believe him or not. Her eyes became steely and she hauled her son to his feet and began marching down the stairs.

"Mom?! Where are we going?"

"I'm going to give that man a piece of my mind, leaving dangerous things around curious kids." She had enough sense to turn off the oven before dragging Mitch into the car despite his complaints.

-Family of Happenstance-

Lady walked into the shop and froze upon seeing Dante rocking back and forth with a sleeping Nero in his arms. The half devil met her eyes, sadness in his own.

"What happened?" she whispered, looking around and seeing Yamato lying unsheathed on the ground.

"Yamato tried to choose Nero as its next wielder."

"What?!" the huntress hissed, stunned. She had originally stopped by just to chat and have a few beers with her comrade, but now it looked like she was in for a hell of a lot more than that.

"It was too forceful for the kid; he doesn't have enough control over his demonic abilities to tame Yamato. To make it better, his friend was standing right there when Nero grabbed the damned sword."

"Mitch?!" Lady had grown quite fond of Nero and his rather shy friend, to think that the blond had witnessed something so frightening. _She _was still scared sometimes when Dante did something unexpectedly demonic; she couldn't imagine what it'd do to an innocent kid.

"Yeah…" the elder was cut off by an angry knock on the door. If Lady wasn't already in the room, that's who he'd have thought it was… except Lady didn't knock…

"I got it," the huntress said quietly and opened the door only to be shoved out of the way by a very angry mother.

"You!" Mrs. Galvan shouted at the half devil, who glared at her for the loud tone when Nero shuffled in his arms.

"How dare you just leave dangerous things out in the open! You have a twelve year old Mr. Redgrave! Do you want him to get hurt?! You can't just leave _weapons_ around where kids can get ahold of them! Your son scared Mitch so bad that…" she was cut off by Mitch stepping in front of her.

"It wasn't Nero's fault," he said, still looking scared but trying to put on a brave front. Said partial devil shuffled in his father's arms again and opened his eyes and looking at the scene around him.

"What's going on…?" He mumbled, sitting up and his arm taking on a brighter glow as it typically did when he was awake. Bright enough that it attracted Mrs. Galvan's eyes and she caught sight of the demonic limb.

A/N: Wow! Long chapter! And yet another cliffie! I had a lot of fun typing this chapter, I'm sorry if the part with Mitch and his mother was boring but I felt it was necessary to show what he was going through too.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


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